Campuses:
Forty years from now, the world’s population will reach 9 billion. While agriculture may advance enough technologically to feed a large component of those people, the environmental costs of such advances will likely be high. Society also demands the development of renewable products and fuels from the same land we use to produce food, and to do this with significantly less environmental impact. And in that time our planet will continue warming, causing environmental change and species loss at a staggering rate.
CFANS is uniquely positioned to help address these challenges through our four strategic priorities: defining new food and agricultural sustainable systems; creating a sustainable bioeconomy; adapting systems to environment and climate change; and protecting biodiversity. The common thread among these diverse areas is the use of science to help find solutions to big issues and everyday challenges. We study the health of the land and the people, ensure the safety of the food and water supply, improve the economy, foster job creation, strengthen our agricultural and natural resource-based industries, and enhance the social fabric of communities. Our faculty members teach the next generation of scientists how to tackle such problems while using today’s best research approaches and help the public put our new discoveries to work.
CFANS was created in 2006 when the former College of Natural Resources merged with the College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences and the food science and nutrition department, but we have a storied history. We’re the alma mater of Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug as well as an alumni base that includes college presidents, internationally renowned researchers and industry leaders.
Our college community includes about 1,850 undergraduates and 700 graduate students as well as about 247 faculty and 700 staff and more than 25,000 alumni; we also have a large group of stakeholders in industry, government and education, many of whom show a strong sense of ownership and loyalty to our college. We offer 14 undergraduate majors and graduate degrees in 13 programs, five of which are interdisciplinary. We collaborate extensively with other University of Minnesota units, most closely including the University of Minnesota Extension, the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES), Institute on the Environment (IonE), the College of Biological Sciences, College of Science and Engineering, College of Design, Academic Health Center: College of Veterinary Medicine and School of Public Health, Humphrey School of Public Affairs and the Carlson School of Management. While we are based on the St. Paul campus, our reach extends to every corner of Minnesota through our nine research and outreach centers plus the Bell Museum of Natural History and the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. CFANS is the university’s most visible example of the land-grant mission.
Research, education and outreach in agricultural and natural resource sciences at land-grant universities traditionally have rested on the values of productivity and efficiency. But growing environmental concerns, a declining natural resource base, and rising societal commitment to sustainability require that we integrate those longstanding values with strategies that are ecologically sustainable to meet the potentially competitive food, fuel, feed, fiber and other needs of 21st-century society.
