A vision and roadmap for the next generation of agricultural systems
Consortium
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Contact:
Dr. Helene Murray
411 Borlaug Hall
1991 Buford Circle
St. Paul, MN 55108
612-625-8235
hmurray@umn.edu
Among the core activities that the consortium supports:
- Basinwide or regional learning groups to coordinate efforts of existing and planned enterprise development projects among private and public sector partners and generate more rapid and efficient deployment of successful strategies and approaches in the basin
- New, systemic approaches to regional and basinwide market development for multifunctional ecological services including but not limited to carbon market aggregation.
- Policy outreach, education, and advocacy that focuses on opportunities through the Farm Bill (e.g., Conservation Stewardship Program) and other relevant state and federal policies that would support our mission.
- An inventory and assessment of continuous living cover projects in the basin including the development of an integrative, ecological evaluation approach and assessment framework that would inform, be informed by, and gauge projects' social, economic, and environmental impacts at all scales.
- Testing, development, and use of integrative tools to expand the scope of and link the numerous individual entrepreneurial efforts with the aim of increasing continuous living cover within the basin and enabling real-time information feedback. Tools will include GIS, landscape design, multifunctionality determination and quantification, enterprise development, benchmarking, and modeling.
- Presentations, articles in peer-reviewed journals, additional targeted publications as appropriate, and general outreach materials for the general public, opinion leaders, and legislators.
Presentations & Publications
List of Consortium Members
Land-Grant Institutions
Iowa State University, including the
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture
Non-Governmental Organizations
Audubon Society, Upper Mississippi River Initiative
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy
The Nature Conservancy,
Upper Mississippi Basin ProjectAgricultural Watershed Institute - IL
Rural Advantage - MN