St. Paul MARL Seminar – Visionary Leadership, February 19-21, 2025

Posted on February 24, 2025

We kicked off our February seminar with a fun lunch-and-learn hour at the Minnesota Department of Revenue building. We visited with organizational leaders from multiple organizations. At each table we were exposed to leaders in different areas of agriculture.

Sheila Vanney from the Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts shared with a table of class members. We learned about the importance of MASWCD’s impact all across our state. Members at the table were able to discuss positive impacts on their operations. Sheila made note that the federal funding freeze could have an impact on our local farmers.

We valued hearing from Carolyn Olson, Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation Vice President and MARL Class 10 member. She explained the Farm Bureau grass roots structuring and how policy and change is created in her organization. It was exciting to see how issues can start at a county level and go all the way to make national policy. She also told us of some current programs Farm Bureau is working on, such as Urban Farming Relationships.

Michelle Medina, Government Relations Director at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and MARL Class 10 member shared experiences in support of agriculture, food and the people that are impacted by the MDA. She emphasized the reality of working with very dedicated team members at the department and some really smart people. Great to have MARL alumnae demonstrating their leadership!

Okey Ukaga writes, “At my table, we had great conversation with John Romines. He shared about his experience leading food and agriculture related business operations and lessons learned. I found the following insightful:”

‘As I get older, the more I realize that it is about people. So much of leadership is being human. When I interact with people, I first talk about what is important to them. When they start talking business, I start talking business.’

We moved into our three afternoon speakers. Kicking us off was Susan Brower, State Demographer. Our state demographer takes a look at trends and data around people and how they move within the state. She shared with us that Minnesota had a steady population growth until 2020. Since then, the growth rate has slowed because Minnesota now has an older population and fewer kids per household.

Parlaying onto this conversation, we listened to Brigid Tuck, Senior Economic Analyst from the University of Minnesota Extension. The class learned about the driving factors of Minnesota economy. While agriculture plays a significant role in this; healthcare, and professional and business services are the largest drivers of Minnesota’s economy. It was good to hear that Minnesota employment levels are back to pre-pandemic levels.

Parlaying on to this conversation, we listened to Brigid Tuck, Senior Economic Analyst from the U of M Extension Service. The class was able to learn about the driving factors of the Minnesota Economy. While Agriculture plays a significant role in this, Healthcare and Professional & Business Services were the largest drivers of Minnesota’s economy. It was good to hear that Minnesota Employment levels were back to pre-pandemic levels.

We wrapped up our afternoon with Ben Winchester, Extension Educator. Ben’s focus was on “Rewriting the rural narrative”. He shared a misconception with us that everyone says rural areas are dying. As he worked through his presentation, it became clear that rural areas were in-fact not dying. While statistics did show that populations are down in these areas, they also showed that the percentage of housing spaces filled have increased most everywhere. People simply have smaller households. It is crucial to our rural communities to provide ample workforce housing to continue positive community growth. Our class finished our afternoon excited about rewriting the rural narrative, as it is-in-fact positive!

Relocating to the Minnesota State Capitol – class members were guided on a tour by MN Historical Society historian Brian Pease.

A highlight was a visit to the MN House of Representatives Chambers arranged by Representative Paul Torkelson, MARL Class 4. There are currently three MARL alumni serving as leaders in the MN House of Representatives. In addition to Representative Torkelson, two members of MARL Class 8, Nathan Nelson and Keith Allen-are representing their constituents. We had a great tour of various parts of the capitol, including the Senate Chambers and Supreme Court.

Wednesday evening we had a supper social with MARL alumni. Among the alumni in attendance were Representatives Nathan Nelson, Representative Keith Allen, Bruce Tiffany, Anna Claussen, Steve Schmitt, Whitney Place and Brad Schloesser. They shared with us their favorite MARL memories, take-away lessons, and stories of their International MARL experience. We had great conversations had and it was impactful to feel the support and success of past class attendees.

Day 2 – Saint Paul – Visionary Leadership, February 20, 2025

We began day two of our Saint Paul seminar at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. Commissioner Thom Petersen, Assistant Commissioner Andrea Vaubel and Government Relations Director Michelle Medina greeted us at the agency and we continued our visionary leadership search and confirmations.

A major portion of our morning was invested in creating a shared vision to reshape the rural narrative, our communities and agriculture.

Jason Robinson, AURI Business Development Director and MARL Class 12 alumni, influenced us to take an inspirational approach in leadership, as he shared his findings with regard to influencing a person’s narrative, and specifically how inspirational leaders have a 95% buy-in from those they influence.

Justin Erickson, of The Brookshire Company, challenged the notion of “Build it and they will come” when it relates to economic development. He urged us to be realistic about what our towns have to offer to grow and support their potential.

Cory Hepola, also of The Brookshire Company and producer of the “Rural by Choice” video series, emboldened us to proactively tell our story: as individuals, businesses and communities. We must eliminate language involving negative stereotypes about rural living, and focus on an authentic message that is clear, concise and positive.

Our afternoon was invested in visits with elected leaders back at the capitol. Class member – Rachel Reisig, Director of Communications, MN Farm Bureau-provided tips on crafting messages and prepared cohort members of MARL for their visits with representatives.

Representative Chris Swedzinski, Senator Gary Dahms and Senator Aric Putnam were some of the individuals MARL class members shared visits with during the day in addition to sitting in on committee meetings.

Sharing an evening in Saint Paul, we had the opportunity to see what happens underground at Wabasha Street Caves. Silica sand mining, mushroom production, entertainment and maybe a bit of activity outside of the law has all played a part in the history of the caves.

Day 3 – February 21, 2025 – the food group

Our last day of seminar four finished up at The Food Group in New Hope. The Food Group is a nonprofit that supplies food to over 500 food shelves across Minnesota. Lonny, Volunteer Manager of Anti-Hunger Inititatives and Emily, Development Team member gave a short presentation on how great the need is in the state. Last year alone, there were nearly 9 million visits to food shelves statewide.

MARL Class members focusing on eliminating hunger.

In our voluntary efforts, pinto beans were repackaged from 50-pound bags into one-pound plastic sealed bags with labels. Each MARL-team working in cooperation-measured on a scale the beans, sealed the bags and repackaged 25 one-pound bags into banana boxes for distribution to the food shelves or markets that are supported by The Food Group.

In the two hours we were there the class bagged up 2,250 pounds of mini-meat bags and 2,520 one-pound bags of beans, making a total of 3,975 meals for the community.