AGREETT's impact across Minnesota

AGREETT Extension educator Annalisa Hultberg partnered with Whole Farm Strategies to host a hands-on workshop to walk farmers through how to build a produce cooler themselves. Walk-in produce coolers are beneficial for maintaining produce quality and safety as well as for farmers' profits, but the upfront cost of a new, traditional cooler are often cost prohibitive. 

AGREETT associate professor Kim VanderWaal is a co-lead on a $2.8 million dollar grant from the USDA-NIFA dedicated to understanding viral "fitness.” This project aims to identify where the porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, which costs the U.S. swine industry roughly $1.2 billion annually, is most dangerous and use that data to understand why some new variants are more likely to become the next national epidemic.

AGREETT Extension veterinarian Dr. Angela Varnum, along with other Extension educators, led lambing and kidding workshops to help producers prepare for the busy spring season. To create a low-stress environment in which even difficult births end in learning rather than loss, the workshops utilized a lambing simulator, a life-sized fiberglass sheep with three lambs that can be placed inside to mimic the time of giving birth, to give participants hands-on learning opportunities.

AGREETT Extension educator Annalisa Hultberg works with Minnesota's fruit and vegetable producers to implement Good Agricultural Practices so their produce can be served to children in farm-to-school programs. Learn more about how Hultberg helps local growers.

AGREETT-funded faculty Melissa Wilson and Erin Cortus were part of the interdisciplinary team that developed a digital tool to bring together and standardize manure sample data from across the country into a first-of-its kind manure nutrient database called ManureDB.

The University of Minnesota’s groundbreaking Precision Agriculture Center uses the latest technology to assist with optimal crop growth. AGREETT-funded professor Yuxin Miao leads the center. 

The University of Minnesota’s growing emphasis on regenerative agriculture is changing the landscape of environmental health. Jake Jungers, an AGREETT-funded associate professor, is one of the faculty at the forefront of the University's efforts.

AGREETT faculty member Kim VanderWaal is among a team of CVM researchers spearheading an AI-based platform to consolidate huge amounts of data on PRRS variants to help farmers better understand how the elusive PRRS virus infects herds—and the best course of action for getting pigs healthy again. 

AGREETT faculty member Lindsay Pease has seen the fallout that happens when nutrient and water resources aren’t properly managed, and it drives her work at the University today.