A significant setback to Minnesota’s growing sustainable agriculture sector is in the works as part of budget cuts being enacted at the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resource Sciences.

Sustainable agriculture community partners recently received a letter from the college’s dean, Brian Buhr, announcing that he is discontinuing funding for the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture (MISA) and distributing its projects and endowed chair funds elsewhere. The dean cited budget cuts as the reason, with federal and state funding reductions likely contributing.

Community partners and supporters of MISA and its mission view this decision as penny wise and pound foolish. MISA is a unique “joint venture” between community organizations and University partners that has focused for more than 30 years on being a bridge between the University and the larger community, working together to strengthen the long-term resiliency of our farming and food systems.

Many of the challenges facing Minnesota’s farming and food system communities are being addressed by MISA initiatives. In the coming year MISA will support livestock producers by helping address Minnesota’s meat processing bottleneck, assist small grain farmers in Northwestern Minnesota, and strengthen farmers’ market hubs, and develop train-the-trainer aids for professionals about grazing using virtual fence and other technologies.

It will continue mentoring students of color through the Next Gen Ag & Conservation Professionals Program and advance initiatives such as the Forever Green Initiative, local food safety work, and the Transition to Organic Partnership Program.

Of equal importance in an era of declining enrollment, MISA helps the University attract and retain students. It generated the Sustainable Agriculture Minor and the student organic farm, both of which draw undergraduates. Graduate students, too, benefit from MISA’s support and could gain even more if it provided a home base for independent learning plans, as recommended by graduate student leaders.

Without MISA, the University risks losing students to other institutions, such as University of Wisconsin-Madison, where investment in a sustainable agriculture curriculum is stronger.

Agriculture is constantly evolving. Sustainability as the foundation for research and education is only partially represented in the agriculture and food system disciplines at the University of Minnesota. That is why MISA remains indispensable. Ending this nationally recognized partnership now would mean abandoning a collaborative model that has fostered creative, practical solutions for Minnesota farmers, rural communities, and food producers.

Later this month, Minneapolis will host Willie Nelson and Farm Aid 40, national celebration of farmers and regenerative agriculture. The three-day gathering of farmers and farming advocates, now in its 40th year, will be held at the University’s Huntington Bank Stadium. Minnesota was chosen because of its leadership in sustainable agriculture and partnerships between the community and the University. Ironically, at this same moment, MISA faces termination.

Because of the vital role the University plays in Minnesota’s agriculture and food systems, and its need for federal and state resources, community leaders are in dialogue to find a path forward for MISA.

Instead of dismantling it, we should be empowering MISA with resources to continue the collaborative problem-solving model needed at the University to address the overwhelming human, ecological and economic challenges faced by Minnesota farmers — and all who care about the sustainability of our food system.

— Paul Sobocinski is a farmer, in Wabasso and current endowed chair in Agricultural Systems, University of Minnesota