| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 72.29 |
| Liaison | Jonna Korpi |
| Submission Date | Sept. 11, 2024 |
University of Minnesota, Duluth
IN-49: Innovation C
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
0.50 / 0.50 |
Jonna
Korpi Sustainability Director UMD Sustainability |
Name or title of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome:
A brief description of the innovative policy, practice, program, or outcome that outlines how credit criteria are met and any positive measurable outcomes associated with the innovation:
The UMD Land Lab: UMD Office of Sustainability saved the farm!
In winter of 2022 it was clear that the UMD Sustainable Agriculture Program (SAP) was in trouble. Housed under an academic department and having it's second director leave after only a few years and with funding dwindling, the future was looking bleak.
Students involved with the farm reached out to campus partners and the Office of Sustainability, recently re-homed to Facilities Management, thoguht it might just be possible to make a miracle happen. The Sustainability Director teamed up with the Director for Insitute on the Environment at UMD and together they wrote a grant to expand the focus of the farm to include not only growing vegetables, but also climate-smart tree seedlings, and to incorporate more experiments on the land to engage students and professors through hands-on course work.
This vision landed them a grant to support a farm manager and full time student workers for two years. In summer 2023, the farm was officially transitioned from its former academic department (Geography) and moved to the Office of Sustainability. The site was cleaned and organized by sustainability staff and plans for hiring staff and designing experiments for the 2024 growing season were undertaken.
With the short Minnesota growing season fully upon us, we are proud to report that the UMD Land Lab is fully staffed with a full time farm manager and four student workers. Two half-acre market gardens are being planted for vegetables and cut flowers. Three honeybee hives have been installed. Two additional half acre beds are being prepped for a summer biochar experiment with cover crops -- ready for course engagement and lab investigation come fall. Additionally, 40,000 plus tree seeds are being planted in cone-tainers and another several thousand acorns will be bare root planted in currenlty unused agricultural beds. To top it all off, a new hyperlocal food access group has come into being with members from the UMD Land Lab, Community Action Duluth, Ecolibrium 3, and a growing number of additional Duluth local folks to work toward getting fresh vegetables in the hands of folks who need it most.
https://sustainability.d.umn.edu/landlab
Optional Fields
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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