The University of Minnesota officially launched its new research center on food safety on Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has awarded the university $15 million over three years to fund the center. The U's research will focus on ways to protect the country's food supply from natural contamination or terrorist attack. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman attended the launch announcement at the U's Minneapolis campus.
Read the rest of the story here: http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/07/06_helmsm_foodsupply/
Agri News (6/30/04)
By Janet Kubat Willette
WINONA, Minn. -- The University of Minnesota is a leader in organic research, but has room to improve.
That's among the findings Jim Riddle discovered in a survey he conducted while serving as a University of Minnesota endowed chair in agricultural systems from May 2003 to June 2004.
The U of M has the nation's largest and oldest organic research project in Elwell Agroecology Farm at South West Research and Outreach Center near Lamberton. There, 120 acres are certified organic. This year, the U of M expanded its organic research to 13 acres of flax at Southern Research and Outreach Center in Waseca, and is seeking money to convert half of the dairy herd at West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris to organic production.
The U of M is also considering other organic research projects, including poultry, seed crop breeding and horticulture, Riddle said.
The more than 200 people who spent about 30 minutes apiece completing the extensive online survey said they need more systems research from the U of M. Respondents want whole farm research, he said, not just research evaluating one type of parasite, for example. That makes research more challenging, but also more relevant.
Another issue that was raised repeatedly was the lack of infrastructure for an organic farming industry, Riddle said. Organic farmers lack certified organic feed mills, veterinarians with an understanding of organic treatment techniques, and certified organic livestock processing plants.
The U of M has taken time to listen to organic farmers and learn about their needs, Riddle said. The U of M has partnered with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and the Agriculture Utilization Research Institute to provide an information exchange program for organic producers, the Minnesota Organic Farmers' Information Exchange.
Riddle spoke at the Land Stewardship Project's southeast annual meeting Saturday. About a hundred people attended the event that included a tour of Hidden Stream Farm near Elgin, a hog roast and presentations on sustainable farming.
On the Web:
Minnesota Organic Farmers' Information Exchange, http://mofie.coafes.umn.edu/
A study was recently released that ranked Minnesota as having the 8th best high-tech economy. This study further shows how important the university of Minnesota is to the state’s economy.
Read the full story below.
Minnesota ranked 8th-best high-tech economy
Mike Meyers, Star Tribune National Economics Correspondent
March 31, 2004
A study to be released today concludes that Minnesota has one of the strongest "high-technology economies" in the nation, and the state is the only Midwestern state to make the top 10.
The latest reading by the Milken Institute pegs Minnesota as No. 8 in the nation in science and technology prowess. The last time the California-based think tank ranked the states, in 2002, Minnesota was 10th.
"Minnesota is the shining star of the Midwest," said Ross DeVol, director of regional economics at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica. The study "says that Minnesota is fairly well positioned for future growth in technology-based development."
Of the other Midwestern states, none came closer than Illinois at 21st. Wisconsin ranked 27th; North Dakota, 45th; South Dakota, 47th; and Iowa, 37th.
Although Minnesota has lost thousands of jobs in telecommunications, Internet startups and other "new economy" industries in the last few years, the Milken analysis found medical instrument and device employment, increasing investments in research and development and spending on public education propelled the state up in the national rankings.
"We have a very strong med-tech market that compensates for some deficiencies in our high-tech market," said Matt Noah, chief executive of NetSuds.com, a Chanhassen-based technology trade group with more than 8,000 members.
The rising fortunes of the Mayo Clinic, Medtronic, Boston Scientific and other medical enterprises either based here or with major operations in Minnesota have offset the declining fortunes of ADC Telecommunications, Net Perceptions and other tech firms, Noah said.
"We have a fairly strong med-tech venture capital market and a lot of promising medical start-up companies," he said.
Minnesota state economist Tom Stinson said the study points to the edge the state gains from such high-paying industries, an edge the state would do well to protect.
"Will we ever be No. 1? I doubt it," Stinson said. "But we will have an increasing presence in some important fields."
The study compares 75 measures of economic performance, from the concentration of jobs in computer-related enterprises, to investment in education and research.
"Minnesota improved its ranking in four out of the five components [of the Milken technology index] and recorded the largest gain in research and development" of any state, the report said.
Minnesota also ranked second only to Colorado in technology education and training.
"Minnesota does not dominate any of the 20 indicators [of educational attainment] but is in the top half of the country in all but one indicator," the report said.
The exception: Minnesota ranked only 27th in the share of its adult population holding doctorate degrees.
"The Minnesota public school system, K-12, is one of the best in the country," DeVol, the Milken researcher, said. "A greater proportion of [the state's] public school graduates are in a position to go to college."
Stinson underscored the point. "We want to have those well-trained workers in scientific and technical fields and the jobs to keep them in Minnesota," Stinson said.
In venture capital investments as a share of the total state economy, Minnesota ranked ninth in the latest study, up from 17th two years ago.
Other highlights:
• Minnesota scored high on two new components of the state-by-state comparisons. It ranked 15th in research and development spending on agricultural sciences and 18th on research spending in biomedical sciences.
• In garnering awards for "technology transfer" -- turning university research into the building blocks for real-world products -- Minnesota ranked 17th, up from 27th in 2002.
• Minnesota also saw major gains in small-business innovation awards from the U.S. Small Business Administration -- lifting the state to 22nd in the nation, up from 36th two years earlier.
"For Minnesota, the challenge is to emphasize the technology areas where we have particular strengths," Stinson said. "This seems to point them out."
Mike Meyers is at meyers@startribune.com.