MISSISSIPPI STATE – The Mississippi State University Extension Service 4-H Youth Program received a $5,000 grant from the Monsanto Fund to support the 4-H cooperative business tour in 2011.

The annual 4-H Cooperative Business Leadership Conference is the reward given to senior level 4-H members who placed first in their state competitions at 4-H Congress. They are joined on this tour by the state awareness team members and the state 4-H Council officers.

“These youth are among Mississippi’s finest, having progressed in their 4-H contest categories from the local to state level,” said Harvey Gordon, state 4-H specialist and leadership conference organizer. “This tour gives them the opportunity to see working cooperatives firsthand, to establish and operate their own soft drink cooperative and to see how state government works.”

The grant from the Monsanto Fund, a private foundation that is the philanthropic arm of Monsanto Co., gave the funds to help support the communities in which Monsanto Co. does business. The fund’s primary objective is to improve the lives of people by bridging the gap between their needs and their resources.

The 4-H Youth Program will use the money to offset some of the expenses of the four-day tour across the state.