N.C. A&T Animal Science Student McAdoo Chosen for Elite Farm Foundation Panel

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Jan. 27, 2023) – Milosh McAdoo, a senior studying animal science in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences (CAES) at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, is one only six students in the country chosen to participate in a roundtable discussion with agricultural leaders and peers.

McAdoo has been named a 2023 Cultivator by the Farm Foundation. He and the other five students were invited to present a case study in an area of their interest to industry members as part of a closed-session panel, held this year in Savannah, Georgia.

“Milosh demonstrates all the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of dynamic young agricultural scholar and leader,” said Antoine Alston, Ph.D., associate CAES dean of academic studies, who nominated McAdoo for the honor. “This tremendous professional development opportunity is very competitive and selective, with an annual cadre of high achieving future agricultural leaders chosen to participate. Milosh fits that environment perfectly.”

As a member of the panel, McAdoo gave a presentation on the topic of “cultural competence within international agricultural development,” using the African country Burkina Faso as his case study.

“Cultural competence takes a community-centered approach to the work that’s being done instead of going in with preconceived notions of what agriculture should look like,” he said. “It’s taking in people’s culture, history, traditions, and norms within a particular area to develop meaningful  projects or initiatives that build sustainable infrastructure for agriculture within these countries.”

Burkina Faso’s diverse population and the developments taking place in the country’s agricultural, economic and social growth made it an interesting study for McAdoo. He used research and discussions with people both inside and outside N.C. A&T who have experience in the country to create his case study.

“There are over 60 different ethnic groups in Burkina Faso. That makes it a particularly neat place to examine because of those differences,” he said. “One of the agricultural opportunities that I saw in my case study was the integration of cultural competence curriculum in post-secondary agriculture programs.”

Agricultural issues within the country include climate adaptation, water, and sanitation and aid for some of the country’s most vulnerable populations, particularly women and youth, McAdoo said.

McAdoo said he appreciated the networking and the engagement opportunities at the panel discussion.

“I was reminded of just how diverse the issues and opportunities are in the agricultural industry,” he said. “It seemed that everyone that I talked to had a different background, different interest and different specialties, which made me really excited to think about how we’d tackle these opportunities in the agriculture space.”