by
Dr. Hikaru Hanawa Peterson, Professor of Economics, University of Minnesota
From the fall of 2024-2026, the University of Minnesota and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy conducted research supported by the Agroecology Fund to document the best strategies to support farmers to implement climate-resilient agricultural practices and advance agroecology in Minnesota. In addition to examining public data on existing programs at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), we conducted interviews with farm and food systems partners and heard feedback from 462 Minnesota farmers who completed our statewide survey.
Agriculture is the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Minnesota, and the sector’s emissions continue to rise. Farmers are also feeling the impacts of climate change, from record-breaking droughts and heatwaves to extreme weather events and unpredictable shifting growing seasons. Minnesota needs a state policy agenda for climate action that recognizes the positive, climate-resilient contribution of small and medium-scale producers and their markets.
Read the summary below, and find translated versions and links to the full report here:
Register for our September 30 webinar, where we will share our survey findings, highlighting the key role of emerging farmers in advancing agroecology and recommendations for how to make public support programs more accessible for these farmers.
Findings
- Small to mid-sized, beginning, and women-owned farms report engaging in more climate-resilient farming practices than larger, long-established farms, yet they report barriers to accessing state grants supporting those practices.
- Barriers to participation include: limited funding leading to competition to receive grants, application and reporting burdens, and matching fund requirements.
- Local food purchases are linked to smaller, more sustainable, and emerging farmers. Farmers supplying directly to markets implement more climate-resilient practices: farmers with direct-to-consumer sales reported an average of 5.9 practices compared with an average of 1.4 for farmers who did not. Local food purchasing programs, including MDA’s Farm to School and Early Care Program and Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, are more utilized by small to mid-sized and historically disadvantaged farmers.
- Programs supporting implementation of climate-resilient farming practices are underfunded compared to the demand from farmers. These programs include the MDA’s state-level Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program, Soil Health Financial Assistance Program Grants and Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Grants, and federal-level Conservation Stewardship and Environmental Quality Incentives Programs.
Recommendations
Increase the overall budget target for agriculture in Minnesota. Minnesota currently devotes less than half of 1% of the state budget to agriculture, despite agriculture making up as much as a fifth of the state economy.
Increase funding for underfunded state programs that increase climate resilience:
- Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program
- Soil Health Financial Assistance Program
- Farm to School and Early Care Grant Program
- Local Food Purchase Assistance Program
Modify existing programs to improve accessibility of support for emerging farmers. The farmers we surveyed gave clear recommendations, including:
- Remove matching fund requirements.
- Provide funds at the beginning of the project.
- Reduce application and reporting burdens.
- Fully fund programs to support all valid projects instead of making eligible applicants compete for a limited number of grants.
Minnesota needs greater investment in data collection, including on the demographics and farm size of grantees, and transparency in sharing data on state programs to understand the access to and implementation of climate-resilient practices with government support.
“We need a deep re-rooting of infrastructures. I am super grateful that MDA has these amazing programs, but thinking about having the resources scaled to the needs of farmers, I would say for a majority of the programs unfortunately the farmers we are working with are not going to be able to access those things. Why?
For one, we have to remember the whole administrative process. And matching funds for projects is really hard. Plus most grants are reimbursements. If you have a $90,000 project, that means you have to have that money, and that means we are asking farmers to pay a few thousand dollars more for a bridge loan or something like that to supplement the cost share to be able to take out another loan to basically pay for the project, submit it to MDA and get it reimbursed. By that time farmers have already lost funding in the process.
The other part is markets. As much as we want to keep farmers safe and give them climate resilient tools so they can continue to farm, in order for them to continue to farm, they need money. They need to be paid, and we need viable markets.”
– KaZoua Berry, Farm Director, Big River Farms/The Food Group
Learn more about our research process and findings by reading the full report HERE.
