MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Green Lands Blue Waters is excited to announce the launch of the Next Gen Ag and Conservation Professionals Mentorship Program. This program is funded by a 2022 Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Equity Conservation Agreement and is hosted in partnership with the Mississippi River Network.
This mentorship program focuses on graduate students of color interested in careers in agricultural conservation and committed to reaching underserved farmers. The program provides opportunities to connect with farmers, professionals, and scientists representing diverse agricultural communities across the Upper Midwest. The geographic scope of the program includes students based in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, or Missouri. Please help us actively recruit students to apply for this program.
A key goal of this program is addressing the complex challenge of nourishing people while also nurturing the land that sustains us. The next generation of agricultural and conservation professionals will need to envision, embrace, and effectuate landscape-scale transformation to truly set us on the path of agricultural sustainability. This challenge requires us to fully and authentically leverage our diversity. Diversity leads to resilience in both ecological and human systems. Human diversity and diverse agricultural landscapes are not independent of one another: We must embrace them BOTH simultaneously.
The program has an amazing group of partners to support these students, including one-one-one mentors, farmers and trainers with deep content expertise and rich lived experience as people of color who have built their careers in Midwest agriculture. Included in the program are a virtual training series on preparing for a career in agriculture and natural resources, farm visits, conference attendance, and communications coaching to develop a polished outreach piece. Program participants will receive a $1000 stipend upon completion.
Applications are due August 1st. The program runs from Fall 2022 through early Summer 2023. More information, including mentor bios, and application materials can be found at: https://greenlandsbluewaters.org/next-gen-ag-leaders/
–Green Lands Blue Waters
