An old metal shop in Butler Intermediate High School will soon be converted to an agriculture lab, where students and staff can participate in agricultural education.

Butler Area School District has been awarded $25,000 from the Pennsylvania Farm Bill Agriculture & Youth Grants, which supports projects and programs that benefit youths or promote agriculture, community leadership, vocational training and/or peer networking.

Brian White, superintendent of Butler Area School District, said aquaponic garden equipment that was in Butler Middle School has been relocated to other schools in the district, and the grant will help install necessary equipment in the intermediate high school.

“This area will become the new home of the aquaponics program that was previously at the Butler Middle School,” White said, “and will allow for fisheries and ag education to occur at all levels within the district.”

Butler Area School District previously used money from the Pennsylvania Farm Bill to fund agricultural opportunities in schools across the district, including Summit Township Elementary School, which has a focus on agricultural education.

A Monday news release from the state Department of Agriculture said the Pennsylvania Farm Bill has funded more than $150 million in projects and initiatives to grow Pennsylvania’s agriculture industry have been funded through the bill.