Go to http://www.misa.umn.edu/Minnesota_SARE.html for more information on NCR-SARE in Minnesota!

2008 Report Summary
Minnesota provided significant assistance to SARE grant applications, wrote monthly SARE promotional pieces for newsletter, and promoted SARE through exhibit/booth presence at 8 conferences. Partners in program development and implementation included: Master Gardeners, MN Food Association, Minnesota Project, and Afro Eco. Initiatives included sustainable agriculture training for new educators, small farms/integrated farm/ranch systems, urban agriculture, local food, soil quality and conservation tillage, educators working with underserved audiences, organic dairy, sustainable energy, and agroforestry. A total of $6,000 was distributed to support mini-grants to educators, and $12,090 was distributed to support travel scholarships for educators participating in sustainable agriculture professional development. Information obtained from participation in these activities was used by 49 educators to answer client questions, 78 developed new contacts/partners, 25 incorporated into new programming, 18 delivered new programming, and 15 used in newsletter or other media.

2009 Plan of Work Summary
Minnesota 2009 POW includes four major Initiatives: 1) Integrated Farming Systems/Small Farms, 2) Conservation Tillage-Soil Quality, 3) Local Food Systems, and 4) Urban/Rural Microplot Agriculture.  PDP training for the Integrated Farming Systems/Small Farms Initiative involves support for an Extension educator team to develop a curriculum for MN Small Farm Expo, fashioned after the MO model and a Corn/Soybean listening session modeled after the Circle of Sustainability listening sessions held in the Dakotas in 2009. All four initiatives will solicit $2000 mini-grants to develop PDP tours or workshops and award $500 travel scholarships. The MN Advisory Committee has also allocated funds for one mini-grant and two travel scholarships to address Emerging Issues.

Minnesota State Coordinator, Beth Nelson University of Minnesota MN Institute of Sustainable Agriculture (MISA) 411 Borlaug Hall 1991 Buford Circle Saint Paul, MN 55108 Phone: 612.625.8217 Fax: 612.625.1268 Email: Schre002@umn.edu http://www.misa.umn.edu/Minnesota_SARE.html

Beth Nelson assumed the role of the Minnesota Sustainable Agriculture Coordinator for the North Central Region SARE program in 2004.  She facilitates SARE-supported educator professional development in sustainable agriculture in Minnesota, and promotes other SARE research and education opportunities. Beth earned graduate degrees in Plant Physiology at Purdue University and the University of Minnesota before joining the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA) as the Associate Program Director for the Information Exchange Program in 2000.  MISA is a partnership between the University of Minnesota and the Sustainers’ Coalition.

• Go to the database of SARE projects and select Minnesota in the search terms to find SARE projects funded in Minnesota.

• State Sustainable Agriculture Coordinator(s)

• SARE Administrative Council Representative

• 2009 Minnesota PDP Advisory Committee

Minnesota Organizations, Programs and Contacts

Agricultural Service Agencies
http://www.misa.umn.edu/Agricultural_Service_Agencies.html

Center for Small Towns
Minnesota Center for Rural Policy and Development
Minnesota Rural Partners
Minnesota RC&D
http://www.misa.umn.edu/Rural_Development.html

Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture
www.misa.umn.edu

Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture Agencies and Non-Profits
http://www.misa.umn.edu/Agencies_and_Non-Profits.html;

Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture Partners
http://www.misa.umn.edu/MISA_s_Partners.html

Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and the University of Minnesota
http://www.misa.umn.edu/University_of_Minnesota.html

Minnesota USDA Rural Development
http://www.rurdev.usda.gov/mn/

Home    Feedback