National Ag Week continues in Mankato

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - Yesterday, MSU Mankato hosted a local food and agriculture summit in celebration of National Ag Week.

Off the heels of a successful Ag Day in Mankato, National Agriculture Week continued Wednesday as MSU Mankato’s Strategic Partnership Center hosted an MBFFA Food and Agriculture Summit.

The event partnered with Region 9, Greenseam and other local agriculture institutes to hold discussions revolving around connecting local businesses with both businesses consultants as well as local farms to help all parties grow together.

“It’s partnering a local farm with a local restaurant and putting local foods on the menu, and just building those connections and those collaborations together is just one example of the many things that we are doing this week and throughout the year,” said Stephanie Braun of Mogwai Collaborative.

The summit saw significant carry over from Tuesday’s State of Ag event, creating a week-long conference about all things Minnesota agriculture, and organizers say that Mankato being the center of the festivities shows how crucial agriculture is to southern Minnesota.

“A big driver for our economy is still ag,” explained Mike Hahn of Small Business Development at MSU Mankato. “And this forum provides us a little bit better way to better appreciate agriculture, and what is it that we can do to maybe re-introduce ag into our everyday lives in our communities,”

Organizers hope that this week will connect local industries with resources to help them succeed, but also say that these connections are available year-round, not just during ag week.

“It’s not just this week, right,” said Gwenn Wolters from MSU Mankato’s Strategic Planning Initiatives, “Like, this week we’re celebrating it and we’re highlighting it but there are resources available every week of the year.”

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