The U.S. Department of Agriculture is spending over $200,000 on "enhancing diversity" of veterinarians.

A grant was awarded earlier this year to Tuskegee University in Alabama, which will host workshops and seminars entitled, "So You Want to Be A Vet," to try to recruit minorities into veterinary programs.

"The need to feed the ever increasing human population, forecast to reach over 9 billion worldwide by 2050 is clear, resulting in an increasing need to fill the shortage of scientists and professionals trained in food and agricultural sciences, including food animal veterinary medicine," according to the grant for the project. "As concerted efforts are made to fill this void, it is imperative that underrepresented minorities be included as part of the solution."

The stated goal of the project is to "increase the number of underrepresented minorities entering veterinary school with an emphasis in food animals."

The project will continue through April 2021 and has received $230,769 from taxpayers so far.

"The overall impact of the project will be an increase in number of well-trained underrepresented minorities pursuing a veterinary degree with an emphasis in food and agricultural sciences, which will impact the diversity of the workforce available for the 21st century," according to the grant.

The Huffington Post has called veterinary medicine the "whitest profession in America." Tuskegee previously received over $7 million from the federal government to recruit minorities into its veterinary program, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.