For his years of service to North Carolina’s veteran farmers, Dr. Osei Yeboah has been recognized by the North Carolina Veteran’s Business Association (NC VetBiz).
Yeboah received the Advocate of the Year award at the group’s 2018 Procurement Summit, held in Raleigh during the summer. Presenting the award were Larry Hall, secretary of the N.C. Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and Kyle Winder, president and board chair of NC VetBiz.
For his years of service to North Carolina’s veteran farmers, Dr. Osei Yeboah has been recognized by the North Carolina Veteran’s Business Association (NC VetBiz).
Yeboah received the Advocate of the Year award at the group’s 2018 Procurement Summit, held in Raleigh during the summer. Presenting the award were Larry Hall, secretary of the N.C. Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and Kyle Winder, president and board chair of NC VetBiz.
Yeboah is a professor in the Department of Agribusiness, Applied Economics and Agriscience Education.
A long-time advocate of disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, Yeboah brought agriculture-minded veterans into the mix in 2012, when the USDA set aside funds to provide training for veterans so that they could be successful in agriculture and ag-related fields. He is the recipient of a more-than $180,000 grant from the USDA Office of Advocacy and Outreach to work with disadvantaged farmers, ranchers and veteran farmers.
Each year since 2009, Yeboah has organized a conference to bring disadvantaged farmers and ranchers together with resources to help them. Veterans have participated since 2012. This year, nearly 300 attendees came to the conference, called “Bridging the Information Gap Between Disadvantaged Farmers, Ranchers and Veterans,” to hear discussions about everything from USDA programs to the Farm Bill.
After conference, Yeboah continued to work with the same groups to conduct workshops on soil management, high-tunnel growing techniques, marketing workshops and other agriculture-related topics. He and his colleagues at N.C. A&T also develop manuals for the workshop recipients.
Yeboah said that he wasn’t expecting to be recognized, particularly at the state’s highest level, but that he’s pleased.
“This is the group I want the recognition from,” Yeboah said. “I am pleased that they know what I can do for them.”
The North Carolina Veteran’s Business Association is a member-operated, not-for-profit association of veteran professionals and business owners which formed in 2008 to be an advocate for veterans in business. The group is headquartered in Raleigh.
