Tape is Not Enough

We could not plan that you'd be hearing from Civic Scientist Sienna Nesser the same week the trial opens of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged with second-degree murder in the death of George Floyd. Sienna lives in the neighborhood that was the epicenter of the Minneapolis protests and wrote her piece in the weeks that followed. She selflessly invites us in to her own vulnerability and fears during that time and shares how inertia broke loose for her regarding her role in fighting racism.  

Much like Sienna asserts that we can't expect a new world by taping up the old one, we will not transform agriculture without addressing who is in ag school, who is building food businesses, and who is farming - any more than we will with BMPs at the edges. 

Erin Meier, GLBW Director  

Sienna Nesser, University of Minnesota

Long fascinated by the nitrogen cycle, Sienna Nesser followed that interest by studying sustainable agriculture while at the University of Minnesota, Morris (B.A. Environmental Studies and Studio Arts). It was there that her advisor, Dr. Sheri Breen, introduced her to The Land Institute and their work on perennial grains. After working on several different farms throughout the state and country, Sienna moved back to Minnesota and began her Master’s degree at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Through her thesis work she is studying Silflower, a native wildflower, with the hope that it will someday be a perennial oil seed crop.

The effects of a global pandemic and racial uprising on one white, cis-gendered, perennial grains woman researcher with mediocre mental health

I was raised to be a radical, but not in the field of agriculture. That came later. As a suburban high schooler, I was fascinated by nitrogen fertilizers. The idea of perennial grains captivated me when I was in college. After a few years of working on farms, I’ve found myself studying a perennial oilseed, radical research in the field of agriculture.

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GLBW Steering Committee Spotlight
Erin Meier - Director, Green Lands Blue Waters

Previously, Erin served for 14 years as Executive Director of the University of Minnesota Southeast Regional Sustainable Development Partnership (also called the Experiment in Rural Cooperation). She has over 20 years of experience and training in sustainable agriculture, local food systems, food access, natural resource conservation, clean energy, community engagement and development, and facilitating cross-sector work groups and networks. Erin holds an MS in Sustainable Agriculture from Iowa State University, with an emphasis on economics and external costs, and is a geographer at heart with a BS in Geography from the University of Illinois and past experience as a cartographer and GIS analyst.

Click to view other members of our steering committee