White people get 97% of farm income

Keep up the good work & go outside!

I will not make the pretense that I have anything worthy to add to the piece by our featured Civic Scientist, Zenith Tandukar. I've also gotten too wordy in these intro bits lately and a day like today is a good time to keep it short. I just looked at my NOAA Radar Pro app and it's clear and sunny in most parts of the Upper Mississippi River Basin. Plus, it's Friday! So AFTER you read Zenith's important message, get outside and may the outdoors rejuvenate you this weekend.

Erin Meier, GLBW Director

Zenith Tandukar, University of Minnesota

I would like to thank Green Land Blue Waters for the opportunity to submit this perspective piece. As a graduate student and a person of color at the University of Minnesota, I am proud to be working against two distinct, yet major deficiencies in the agriculture sector in the US concerning the lack of diversity. Modern agriculture has resulted in greatly reduced biological diversity in the US agricultural landscape, contributed to mainly by the monotony of the two-crop system of corn and soybeans. Modern agriculture is also notorious for being one of the least diverse fields regarding study and research, land ownership, and concentration of wealth and power. It is important to recognize that both of these systemic flaws are prevalent in our society. Therefore, a deliberate effort to improve on these shortcomings is the crux of this call to diversify our fields.

The development of winter annual and perennial crops is an important initiative to complement the aforementioned two-crop system, while reestablishing the lost diversity back to the US landscape. The ecosystem services offered by these new crops are an important piece of the sustainable agricultural intensification puzzle, where the goal is to maximize productivity while minimizing agriculture’s adverse effects on the environment. As a graduate student, I am fortunate to be working towards this goal with the domestication and breeding of pennycress – a new oilseed crop species. Pennycress is being directly domesticated from a weedy species to a sustainable source of oil for biodiesel and aviation fuels. It is one of many winter annual and perennial crop species actively being developed at the University of Minnesota to help restore lost biodiversity back on the agricultural landscape. However, for this piece, I would like to focus on a different diversity issue altogether.

Network Opportunities

May 3: Research Soil Scientist/Agronomist/Agricultural Engineer in the Adaptive Cropping Systems Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Beltsville, MD. Go to https://www.usajobs.gov and search for announcement ARS-D21Y-1107269-EL.

May 4: USDA-ARS opportunity: Coordinator of USDA Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, IA. This position will help drive solutions to climate and agriculture issues in the Midwest. The Coordinator will work with partners across the federal government and with state and non-governmental agencies to develop and deliver climate information for agricultural stakeholders. Apply by May 4 here.

May 7: Wisconsin Farmers Union is inviting applications for our Policy Coordinator position. This role involves engaging WFU members and other stakeholders in policy initiatives that reflect the priorities of WFU’s grassroots membership. Find more information in the position posting.

May 12: National Young Farmers Coalition seeks a Land Campaign Organizer to mobilize young farmers and ranchers across the country to advocate for justice-centered land policy change. This work will center BIPOC-led organizations and farmers, with the goal of raising public awareness of the land-related challenges young farmers face, engaging farmers in telling their stories, and changing policy.

May 14: SARE opportunity - University of Maryland seeks an Associate Director for the National Reporting, Coordination and Communications Office (NRCCO) of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. This position is appropriate for both experienced and early career professionals. See here for a full job description and application guidelines.

May 15: Minnesota Elderberry Growers Farm Tour, 8:30 am, at Veterans Farming Initiative, 4432 County Rd 12 S, Montrose, MN 55363-5420
Open to all. Tour both VFI and nearby Fountain Ark Farms, which provide good examples of early stage elderberry orchard development. President Chris Patton will give a short presentation on the progress towards a regional elderberry aggregation hub.

May 17: VIRTUAL - Join Beth Dooley for the launch event of her new book, The Perennial Kitchen: Simple Recipes for a Healthy Future.
The event is sponsored by the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture, the Forever Green Initiative, Lakewinds Food Co-op, Excelsior Bay Books, and the University of Minnesota Press. Beth will be in conversation with Prabin Bajgain, Sandy Boss Febbo, Kieran Folliard, Tre Hardy, Luke Peterson, and Tracy Singleton.

May 31: Regional Soil Health Specialist positions in NRCS National Soil Health Division open in NC, NE, OR, TX

June 28 - July 2: VIRTUAL Scaling up Agroforesty for Carbon Drawdown, 2021 North American Agroforestry Conference

July 19 - August 20 - VIRTUAL University of Missouri 2021 Agroforestry Academy will take place entirely on the virtual platform Canvas. Over four weeks, participants will be able to engage with extensive materials, presentations, virtual farm tours, conversations and consultations with experienced agroforestry professionals and farmers as we work through the agroforestry planning and design process. More info and apply here.

Get counted by the USDA! The USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) recently mailed the National Agricultural Classification Survey to 633,000 potential agricultural producers. New farmers and those who didn’t receive the recent mailing can sign up to be included in the 2022 Census of Agriculture here. USDA press release here.

GLBW Steering Committee Spotlight
Linda Meschke - Executive Director, Rural Advantage
Fairmont, MN

Linda Meschke founded Rural Advantage, a MN nonprofit corporation, to work on water quality, third crops, and rural vitality. Through Rural Advantage, Linda works on initiatives that leverage and enhance the interconnections of agriculture, the environment and rural communities. Major initiatives include establishment and marketing of third crops on the Midwestern landscape, including perennials for local bioenergy; the Madelia Model; local foods and farm2cafeteria networks; establishment of multifunctional landscapes; and the development of an ecological services payment package for farmers.

Keep up the good work & go outside!

Zenith Tandukar, University of Minnesota

GLBW Steering Committee Spotlight Linda Meschke - Executive Director, Rural Advantage Fairmont, MN

GLBW Steering Committee Spotlight
Linda Meschke - Executive Director, Rural Advantage
Fairmont, MN