Minnesota FarmWise
by Peggy Knapp | Jul 13, 2022
| 16 Comments
| 16 Comments
This entry has been selected as a winner in the
Challenge II: Ideas for Addressing Water Issues in Minnesota competition.
Summary:
The Minnesota FarmWise program is an innovative partnership between the Mississippi National River Recreation Area (MNRRA), a division of the National Park Service, and the Freshwater Society. This public/private partnership leverages the knowledge and experience of two well-established environmental organizations. At the same time, the Minnesota FarmWise program offers experienced and retired farmers an opportunity to bring a lifetime of experience to bear on an urgent environmental challenge. MNRRA has a corps of volunteers who can use their existing relationships to recruit friends and colleagues into the Minnesota FarmWise program. Both organizations bring a wealth of sound scientific knowledge to the program. Together, we can create a unique, creative inter-generational clean water campaign for the Mississippi River.
About You
About You
First Name
Peggy
Last Name
Knapp
Country
United States, MN, Anoka County
City
Anoka
About Your Organization
Organization Name
The Freshwater Society
Organization Website
http://freshwater.org/
Your Idea
Name your idea
Minnesota FarmWise
Describe how you would use $15,000 to help your community become aware of and address water issues in Minnesota.
The Minnesota FarmWise program brings together an under-used human resource (experienced and/or retired farmers) and one of Minnesota’s most important natural resources (the Mississippi River), to address the critical issue of water quality. Water issues in Minnesota are complex, and increasingly urgent. As farmers retire and pass their legacies on, they are looking for meaningful opportunities to give back to their communities. Harnessing elders’ willingness to serve, and a lifetime of experience and deep relationships within a community, the Minnesota FarmWise program partners will identify and recruit experienced and/or retired farmers who have successfully implemented conservation farming techniques. Through a series of collaborative workshops and other educational experiences, Minnesota FarmWise volunteers will develop skills and effective strategies to work with peers and colleagues. These Minnesota FarmWise volunteers will act as ambassadors to other farmers, creating a corps of volunteers to engage in dialogue with peers and colleagues about the challenges facing the Mississippi River and offer tangible ways for farmers and their communities to protect and restore Minnesota’s waters. The Minnesota FarmWise program will focus on working through existing community relationships to mentor, educate and lead other farmers to implement best practices that have been farmer-proven and farmer-approved.
How do you define your "community"?. How are water issues affecting your community?
The community served by this idea is defined both by geography and identity. Communities along the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers benefit as sediment in the rivers is reduced. The agricultural community is served by addressing a water quality problem that has emerged and escalated over the past decades. The Mississippi River was recently evaluated for sediment pollution, and the supporting report, The South Metro Mississippi River TMDL, predicts that the upper third of Lake Pepin will soon fill in with sediment, becoming a shallow swamp within the next 100 years. The report is complex, controversial, difficult to understand and challenging to pinpoint effective actions. That kind of information leaves people feeling alienated and overwhelmed. The Minnesota FarmWise program would give a corps of dedicated volunteers the information and skills they need to translate information such as this dense report and other resources into information communities can use to make positive changes that protect the river.
Innovation
Describe how your idea is creative.
The Minnesota FarmWise program is an innovative partnership between the Mississippi National River Recreation Area (MNRRA), a division of the National Park Service, and the Freshwater Society. This public/private partnership leverages the knowledge and experience of two well-established environmental organizations. At the same time, the Minnesota FarmWise program offers experienced and retired farmers an opportunity to bring a lifetime of experience to bear on an urgent environmental challenge. MNRRA has a corps of volunteers who can use their existing relationships to recruit friends and colleagues into the Minnesota FarmWise program. Both organizations bring a wealth of sound scientific knowledge to the program. Together, we can create a unique, creative inter-generational clean water campaign for the Mississippi River.
Impact
Describe how how you expect your idea to make a difference in your community.
The report issued on the health of the river is a legal mandate to address the sources of pollution and sediment choking Lake Pepin. Residents in every town along the Mississippi and the Minnesota Rivers will need to play a part in restoring and protecting these important waterways. Minnesota FarmWise volunteers will communicate the challenges to a variety of audiences, and facilitate and support programs and actions that positively affect the rivers. There are many programs offered through watershed districts, watershed management organizations, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, but many residents don’t know how to get involved, and are unsure of the costs and consequences- of implementing these programs. Minnesota FarmWise volunteers will serve as ambassadors to raise the profile of water issues on the Mississippi River, and get the balls rolling to recruit and enroll residents in existing efforts. A study of farmers in Pennsylvania (Bruening, Radhakrislma & Rollins, 1992) indicates that farmers prefer to get information about environmental issues through on-farm consultations, demonstrations and tours, “suggesting that farmers believe what they see (p. 35).” The Minnesota FarmWise program is built on that farmer-to-farmer model.
Sustainability and Growth
Describe how your idea will "stick" in your community and how you think it could be repeated in other communities.
The Minnesota FarmWise program is built on a stable partnership between two leading organizations in the environmental field. The impending or recent retirement of farmers offers an ongoing source of committed, knowledgeable volunteers. The program offers other agencies and organizations a model for harnessing the knowledge and experience of retirees, strengthening community relationships, reaching across generations, and working together on solutions to critical natural resource issues.
Based on the Environmental Volunteerism and Civic Engagement program (EVCE), a groundbreaking program of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging (CITRA), the Minnesota FarmWise program will adapt existing, rigorous evaluation measures to measure the impact of the program on elders in the community and actions taken to protect the river. The information gained through the Minnesota FarmWise program will support future statewide efforts to help the agricultural community address the threat of non-point source pollution.
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Farmwise
Similar things are being done in Iowa with the on farm network. Members of the ag community want to hear from nieghbors or other members of the ag community. Communicate and come up with their own answers of things that are working and can work. I think it maybe tough to get started but once going it should snow ball. Great idea, good luck.
thanks!
Thanks for your comment, Matt. What we wanted to do with this idea was recognize the wisdom that farmers have, and set up a mechanism to share it. As you say, tough to get going, but worth the effort. We'll see what happens!
Why I'm voting for this one
All of the finalists are terrific, but I'm voting for MN Farmwise because it does more than raise awareness - it creates a community "infrastructure" to support the actual implementation of good ideas. As Dave pointed out in the video, this is often the missing link between ideas and impact. Also, I love that it is farmers themselves coming up with their own answers to this complex problem. THIS is what democracy is all about!
Thanks!
Thanks, Janna-
One of the strengths of this idea, I think, is that we will target the most vulnerable areas in a watershed, so we get the biggest impact with each conservation strategy implemented by farmers. Identifying priority areas, and working with experienced farmer/mentors, will focus and stretch conservation dollars. And as you and Dave Legvold both point out, we create community infrastructure and social capacity.
Wish us luck!
Democracy and Farming
However, farmers are no different than any other specialized group. For example, parents are less likely to accept parental advice from a non-parent. However, they are also just as unlikely to accept advice from a parent who offers it without asking for the input. Democracy is about ALL people having input into matters that effect them. This input sometimes is directly proportional to the effect. However, the passion of individuals may be needed to compensate for those people unable to speak for themselves. For example, the seasonal agricultural labor force of our current produce system needs someone to speak for them as the market primary wants the produce at the lowest price. Oddly, the market pays the price through the food-borne diseases that often result from the lack of investment in the seasonal workforce and working conditions.
A Good Point
You know, you make a good point. It is not out of the realm of possibility that a program like this could evolve and expand to include other folks who play important roles in our food systems and could take part in the community support network, contributing their ideas and wisdom for improving our food system and our watersheds.
Tapping more than water...tapping wisdom
The intergenerational component of this collaboration is refreshing. In our age of technology, the wisdom of our elders, and those who have worked the land is often overlooked. MN Farmwise is a great social as well as enviromental connector for all.
Best of the finalists
This effort includes two established organizations working together. The actions taken by farmers will directly improve the health of rivers, streams, lakes, and wetlands. The improvements will be immediate and because the actions do not depend upon temporary incentives, the farmers who adopt them will likely continue to do so and pass the practices on within their family. In addition, other farmers will be more likely to adopt the same practices.
I recognize the challenges. But if you care about the health of aquatic communities and water quality, farmers provide an opportunity for enormous leverage. That's why this idea deserves funding.
P.S. I have no connection to either organization or the people involved.
Why Farmer's Do What They Do?
Given the land is a farmer's primary asset, one would wonder why they would act in ways to injury their land such as planting to the edge of drainage fields. I suspect the global economics of food production is the larger and primary factor. A farmer needs to plant as much of their land as possible to reap the largest financial return. Sending sediment or worse chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, and excess fertilizer) is not a problem for an individual farmer unless the public or food markets penalize that farmer. Both markets do not penalize the farmer quickly enough to significantly change their behavior. Basically, people need to accept that food should cost more to cover the costs of truly sustainable food production where water, land, and human resources are treated fairly. Even more important, people need to understand the difference between processed and unprocessed food as it relates to nutrient qualities of the food. Many of the cost-saving actions by farmers and food producers result is in food that is not of high nutrient quality. For example, grapes and tomatoes from the Southern Hemisphere during the winter are substandard from a nutrient (and environmental) viewpoint. They must be picked significantly before their prime since transportation timeframes are longer than the same produce seasonally grown within a region.
In essence, people need to accept the food limitations of their region in order to promote behaviors by their farmers that are more sustainable. Otherwise, the negative (and positive) externalities are pushed into the future and assumed by the commons rather than the creators of the externalities.
Community Support is also an Externality
I totally respect the comments made by Ed Davis and agree with his point that our global market economy and consumer purchasing practices are very important drivers in our food systems. But I think farmers in general are actually a lot more human in their decision-making than they are often given credit for. They are not only business owners responding to their bottom line, many are also deeply rooted in their communities and do care very much about not only their land, but also about the impact their farming practices have on the watershed in which they and their neighbors live.
I think the point of the Minnesota Farmwise idea is that what's often lacking for farmers is a locally accessible support network made up of fellow farmers who through their collective knowledge and experience can help each other sort through options, weigh the costs and benefits, and come up with creative solutions to a specific problem-area on their farm.
I believe most farmers have a strong land and water ethic in addition to a desire to make money. A supportive network of peers with decades of wisdom to share makes it easier to accommodate both.