In the past five years agribusiness companies have invested nearly $1 billion in new or expanded development in southern Minnesota, helping to solidify the region as a key ag sector in the world, said Sam Ziegler, president and director of GreenSeam.
Wednesday evening the organization celebrated its successes in the past five years, during the Celebration of Ag event at ISG Field in Mankato, prior to attendees enjoying a MoonDogs baseball game.
GreenSeam is under the umbrella of Greater Mankato Growth and works to expand and attract agribusinesses in southern Minnesota.
Thom Petersen, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, told attendees that Minnesota, particularly southern Minnesota, leads the nation and world in many areas when it comes to ag.
Minnesota is the top producer of turkeys and sugar beets and is among the top for corn, soybeans, hogs and other products. The state is also the home base to some of the largest ag co-ops, including CHS.
But Peterson said farmers face challenges.
“It’s easy sometimes to get down on ag and all the things we face,” he said, citing lower crop prices, wild weather and things like avian flu.
“But there’s the spirit of community, the spirit of resilience.”
Still, Peterson said, “In the end we need a market.” He said GreenSeam works to improve those markets.
One of the themes of the event is how private business, nonprofits, governments and other groups need to work together to promote economic development.
Stacy Nimmo, of Red Wing Ignite, talked about the value of collaboration in rural Minnesota. The nonprofit was created by the city of Red Wing to support entrepreneurs.
They are part of Launch Minnesota, a state-sponsored program to spur the growth of startups.
“Our mission is to put entrepreneurs first,” Nimmo said. She said success comes from collaborating with a number of partners, including chambers, counties, cities and state agencies.
Ziegler said GreenSeam has been wrapping up a successful five-year plan that has focused on helping businesses and on raising funds to support GreenSeam and other related efforts. They are working on the next five-year plan.
He said many businesses pledged a five-year donation and all stuck to it. “Not one of them backed out, which is pretty impressive.”
The money raised pays for GreenSeam operations and for a variety of educational events, entrepreneurial classes, projects at Farmamerica, the Children’s Museum and more.
He said more than 3,000 area students have also been given more agribusiness education because of GreenSeam. There are now ag programs in the Mankato school district that didn’t exist before, with two teachers teaching agribusiness related classes. One of the teachers is fully funded by private industry so the schools don’t have to pay for them.
GreenSeam and businesses also worked with Minnesota State University to create ag minors and an ag business degree program. South Central College now has a mechanical/electrical degree that is focused on the food industry
Those attending also heard of major ag innovations in the area.
Chuck Brandel of Mankato-based ISG, talked about their work to design and build the world’s largest bioreactor in a drainage system near Winnebago.
The bioreactor takes water from farm tiles that drain 700 acres and removes nitrogen, sending it back into the air.
While similar systems have been done on small scales, Brandel said the system shows it can be done on a larger scale.
He said the system removes 1,500 pounds of nitrogen a year from the water.
Jackson-based AGCO has developed the Rogator, a massive crop sprayer that can be easily raised or lowered to apply fertilizer or herbicide on different height crops.
Kahler Automation, in Fairmont, has developed cutting-edge bulk loading equipment that moves grain and other materials onto barges and trains.
The Celebration of Ag also featured networking and live music.
Read the full article at The Free Press.
