Michelin makes ag school donation

PARIS (Feb. 27, 2015) — Group Michelin is donating $400,000 over three years to the La Salle Beauvais Polytechnic Institute in Oise, France,  to support the creation of a farm machinery and new agricultural technology program.

The donation, made through the Michelin Corporate Foundation, supports the firm's social commitment by promoting education, one of these five major sponsorship areas.

LaSalle de Beauvais Polytechnic Institute trains 350 agronomy engineers each year, Michelin said. The farm machinery program, scheduled to begin in October 2016, will be a new specialization in the fourth and fifth years of study.

Michelin Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard made the donation this week during the SIMA International Agri Business Show in Paris. Mr. Senard, who's also the president of the Michelin Foundation, noted that farming will have to meet increasingly complex challenges: to face an increasing demand for food and to feed a population that is growing while the arable land available is decreasing.

This challenge entails improving productivity, he said, while protecting the soil and respecting environmental rules. The development of machinery and technological advances will play a key role in responding to these challenges.

“I am delighted that our foundation is able to support educational projects in the field of agriculture and thus contribute to training future agricultural engineers, who will apply their expertise to solving the food challenges of our planet,” Mr. Senard said.