Mt. Pleasant farmer awarded scholarship

Mt. Pleasant resident Elijah McGohan recently received a $5,000 scholarship from Niman Ranch in November. The Niman Ranch Next Generation Foundation scholarship recipient will being using his funds to further his education in farming.

“I will be using the money to help fund my college education at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids,” said McGohan.

“I am a crop production student, and I hope to come back here to farm after I am done with school. I hope to use what I have learned in school to make our farm more successful.” McGohan and his father have an 800 acre farm near Mt. Pleasant where they raise corn, soybeans, cattle, sheep and pigs.

When asked about his relationship with Niman Ranch, McGohan said that between him and his father that they have about 600 piglets that come in from Niman Ranch each January.

They raise them to market weight for about six months and then ship them off to be processed.

“There are more farmers that do this with Niman Ranch in this area than you think,” said McGohan. “I found out about Niman Ranch when I was helping to build a hoop building on another farm about three years ago.”

Niman Ranch Next Generation Foundation awarded more than $170,000 in scholarships and grants to 39 young farmers and future rural leaders in nine states.

Helping young farmers stay on the land, the funds are used to help defray the costs of higher education and startup costs to farming.

“Niman Ranch is set up to support smaller, local farmers, and that appealed to me. I saw it as a huge benefit to me to raise sustainable, humane pigs,” McGohan said.