U of M’s collaborative research initiatives drive conversation at the Mini Land-Grant Conference
July 13, 2023
The University of Minnesota's College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS), Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES) and Extension hosted the regional Mini Land-Grant University Conference this week, an annual event attended by extension, research, and teaching administrators from peer universities, as well as advocates of the land-grant mission in the North Central Region.
The agenda highlighted the roles of collaboration and communication in addressing global issues including food security, climate resilience and adaptation, and sustainable agriculture. Attendees visited the Landscape Arboretum and research fields in St. Paul to see examples of collaborative research initiatives led by CFANS and Extension faculty, graduate students, and researchers.
Attendees discussed the challenge of communicating complex issues to their varied stakeholders, from farmers dealing with inflation, to lawmakers in Washington. “We need to move away from either/or thinking” around agriculture and renewable energy, said George Smith, Director of AgBioResearch and Senior Associate Dean for Research at Michigan State University. He believes research and Extension can play a role in moving the conversation forward, because “the tension isn’t going away.”
The North Central Region's Mini Land-Grant Conference intends to build relationships among Council for Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching (CARET) representatives and land-grant university research, extension and teaching administrators to foster potential interdisciplinary partnerships and build networking opportunities among administrative leaders within the North Central Region.
