LATEST NEWS
- May Newsletter Published
- New Rules Issued for Antibiotic Use in Animals
- Member in Focus: MAELC
- Legislative Session 2012: In Review
- Networking Breakfast:
How Immigration Leads to Economic Growth & American Jobs- Join us at this networking breakfast to hear from CEO's from some of the largest employers in Minnesota as they share their views on the current immigration reform and how they see it affecting their future workforce. [Read More and Sign Up to Attend]
- Register for 2012 Legislative Wrap Up
- With the conclusion of the 2012 Minnesota Legislative Session, join fellow food and agricultural industry stakeholders at the St. Paul Hotel on June 7 for the Agri-Growth Legislative Wrap Up. Hear from Sen. Doug Magnus, Sen. Rod Skoe, Rep. Paul Anderson, and Rep. Terry Morrow.
- Sign Up to Attend the 2012 AgPAC Golf Tournament
- Food and Ag Industry Leaders Meet with Director-General of WTO, Pascal Lamy
- Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Pascal Lamy, visited Minnesota on April 16 to speak to representatives from the food and agriculture industry at an event organized by the Minnesota Agri-Growth Council. Lamy was visiting the Twin Cities in part to give a speech to the Economics Club of Minnesota, and in part to discuss global trade issues with constituency groups before attending a G-20 meeting in Washington, D.C. Among the topics raised, Argentinaʼs Differential Export Tax (DET), the treatment of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) and other non-tariff trade barriers, and trade-distorting effects of farm policy programs received the most discussion. [Read more...]
- Date Set for Faegre Baker Daniels Food & Agriculture Conference: July 19, 2012
- Mark your calendars for this dynamic full-day conference bringing together national industry leaders, in-house counsel, business executives and regulatory representatives. Hosted by Faegre Baker Daniels, an international law firm of more than 800 legal and consulting professionals, the conference features twelve breakout panel sessions under three tracks: Food Production and Distribution, Production Agriculture, and Global Food and Agricultural Market. [Read more...]
MEMBERSHIP SPOTLIGHT
Organization: Minnesota Agricultural Education Leadership Council
Location: St. Paul, MN
Minnesota Agricultural Education Leadership Council (MAELC) is a 16-member legislative council created in 1997 to reinvigorate agricultural education in Minnesota. It’s an umbrella organization for agricultural education, focusing on strengthening local programs at the secondary, post-secondary and farm business management levels. MAELC is housed at the University of Minnesota alongside the Agricultural Education program. MAELC takes the lead on helping to develop new strategies to improve agricultural education in the state and region. The Council works with its stakeholders to look at new and innovative ways to increase its reach. To date, MAELC has awarded over $2 million in grants, scholarships, and special project funding.
Minnesota has 214 teachers in 185 secondary agricultural education programs, which reach nearly 30,000 students annually. There are also 65 farm business management instructors who work jointly with 3,000 farmers across Minnesota. MAELC works hand-in-hand with these teachers to help give them the tools needed to develop productive students and farmers.
The Council works cooperatively with the State of Minnesota, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Department of Education, University of Minnesota, Minnesota State College and Universities, Minnesota Association of Agricultural Education and the Minnesota FFA Foundation. MAELC is also looking at ways to include new partners in expanding programs to reach a larger audience.
Q & A with Sarah Dornink, MAELC Community Program Assistant:
How is your organization funded?
MAELC is fully supported by state legislative
funding.
What is new with MAELC?
We are in a very exciting time for agricultural
education in Minnesota. There is a
renewed interest in learning about agriculture
and we are continually asked about
starting new traditional and non-traditional
agricultural education programs.
New ideas are always being brought forward. We recently completed our first phase of a blueprint to provide a statewide plan for the next 3-5 years in Agriculture, Food and Natural Resource Education. This focuses on five areas including agricultural literacy, secondary education, 2-year post-secondary education, farm business management, and baccalaureate and above education.
Our secondary teachers are becoming better equipped with modern technology and learning mechanisms because of MAELC. The interest in teaching science and economics through agricultural curriculum has also expanded our programs. Success is proven through increased interest in classes and an increased number of students looking to study agriculture as a career at two- and four-year colleges and universities.
Finally, MAELC partnered with the Minnesota FFA Association to host the first annual Agricultural Policy Bootcamp. FFA members completed an application to attend the intense two-day camp held in January. Students had the opportunity to mingle with legislators at a legislative reception, testify in front of the House Agriculture Committee, be paired with a legislative mentor, and meet with Governor Dayton, Rep. Hamilton, and Sen. Magnus.
What are the key issues or trends affecting your industry?
Education is an evolving paradigm. MAELC
works hard to include current stakeholders
in expanding our curriculum and scope
of activities, while trying to include new
audiences. We are looking at ways to offer
more inclusive programs across the state
to work with emerging populations. There
is a sincere interest in having agricultural
education programs in both urban and rural
areas. We provide excellent teaching and
hands-on learning for students and feel all
students in Minnesota should have access
to our program.
We need to continue to recruit more students to pursue agricultural education careers to ensure that we have quality teachers offering quality programs. The trend of people being interested and involved in agriculture does not seem to be going away and want to make sure we reach students in a significant way and make a positive impact.
What are your legislative priorities?
We are being asked to educate more
Minnesotans about agriculture. While
class sizes are growing, there is increased
competition from other courses. Having an
increased number of classes mandated by
the State (science, etc.) cuts down on the
opportunities for students to take agricultural
education courses or other electives. Our
legislative priority is to make sure everyone
who wants to be educated about agriculture
is given the opportunity.