In The News

$120,000 grant to support Jefferson Farm & Gardens
Thomas Jefferson Agricultural Institute
Apr. 9, 2008

By Jennifer Lindsay Smith
jsmith@jeffersoninstitute.org

COLUMBIA, Mo. (April 9, 2008) – The Thomas Jefferson Agricultural Institute is pleased to announce a $120,000 grant from the City of Columbia Convention and Visitors’ Bureau Attraction Development Fund. This award was approved by the Columbia City Council Monday night and will be used to help develop Jefferson Farm & Gardens, a new educational farm opening in Columbia in spring 2009.

Rob Myers, executive director of the Jefferson Institute, said the grant is coming at a strategic time in the farm’s development.

“We have now surpassed the halfway mark of our capital campaign. More specifically, this grant constitutes a significant step forward in securing capital for our Visitor Education Complex,” Myers said. “We are very pleased this timely support is coming from our local community.”

Once complete, Jefferson Farm & Gardens is expected to attract more than 30,000 visitors from across the region in the first year.

“As word of Jefferson Farm & Gardens continues to spread, we are confident this new attraction will add to the many reasons why tourists want to visit Columbia,” Myers added.

Attractions at Jefferson Farm & Gardens will include a visitor center with exhibits and classrooms, a teaching greenhouse, children’s garden, MFA Children’s Barn, orchard, 7-acre lake, wildflower meadow and demonstration fields.

Jefferson Farm & Gardens is a project of the Jefferson Institute, a nonprofit agriculture education and research center. For more information on Jefferson Farm & Gardens, visit www.jeffersonfarm.org.