EAGAN, Minn. – The Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation (MFBF) is excited to announce its inaugural Urban Ag Conference, set for Saturday, January 13, 2024. This conference is made possible by a grant from the USDA Urban, Indoor and other Emerging Agricultural Production Research, Education and Extension Initiative (UIE).
The free event will be held in the Cargill Building on the St. Paul campus of the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, running from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The conference will provide urban agriculturists an opportunity to connect with local and state leaders on the issues they face including land access, water access, funding and more. A complete conference schedule with speaker information is available at https://fbmn.org/Participate/
“The topics that will be discussed at this conference were identified directly by those supporting their communities through agriculture, making it truly a grassroots gathering,” said conference coordinator and MFBF Director of Communications Rachel Reisig.
The conference will start at 9:30 a.m. with a knowledge share and networking session, followed by lunch and welcome messages from Minnesota Department of Agriculture Assistant Commissioner Patrice Bailey, MFBF President Dan Glessing and other government officials.
Afternoon panels include:
Land access panel: Dr. Fernando Burga, Urban and Regional Planning, University of Minnesota
Water usage panel: Jordan Bergstrom, Controlled Environment Agriculture Lab, University of Minnesota
Technical and grant assistance panel: Leaders from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, USDA Farm Service Agency, and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.
