SAN BERNARDINO

The U.S. Department of Agriculture just dropped $200,000 on a school without an agriculture department.

It's not as absurd as it sounds.

The federal government wants the money given to Cal State San Bernardino to help socially disadvantaged farmers. The school is collaborating with University of California Cooperative Extension for Riverside County to create the Small Farm Initiative Institute, targeting farmers throughout the Inland Empire and the Coachella Valley.

UC will handle the farming expertise while Cal State will help the farmers with business strategies, development and marketing.

"We think it's a great approach to capture both ends,' said Michael Stull, director of Cal State's Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship. "The idea is, there is really nobody addressing that particular group's needs.'

A socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher, by Department of Agriculture definition, has been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice without regard to his or her individual qualities. Cal State's program will offer services in Spanish and English.

The cooperative extension has been offering farmers risk management education for over a year. Risk management education teaches growers about production efficiency, diversification, new technology, new farming regulations, labor management and other things.

"We are going to build on what we've been doing,' Eta Takele, an agricultural economist at the cooperative extension, said.

The grants are part of the department's Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Program, also referred to as the 2501. Thirty-four organizations received money, including 23 colleges and universities and 11 nonprofit organizations.

The institute should be in place by the end of the month. Stull said he's just "waiting on the paperwork.'