Welcome to our first issue of Solutions

These are particularly exciting times for the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences. Faculty, students and staff investigate and teach about a host of local and global concerns relevant to agriculture and natural resources.

• Biofuels may aid in solving our needs but might also result in rising prices for foods and affect the environment. We can help find ways to use non-food plants, such as prairie grasses, that could alleviate the increased cost of crops used for both food and fuel without harming the environment.
• We can affect human health by altering the components in food that are “chemoprotective,” leading to prevention of cancer and other degenerative diseases.
• We can improve our lifestyles by designing pleasing recreational spaces.
• We can help protect threatened plant and animal species.
  

Dean Allen Levine

Solutions will provide updates about the efforts of our CFANS community. We have a diverse group of stakeholders representing students, alumni, small and large businesses, rural and urban populations, and the entire population of the University of Minnesota. We recognize our responsibility to the Land Grant mission and the trust that our stakeholders place in our efforts to conduct contemporary scientific inquiry into relevant problems and to share our knowledge with students and the public.

CFANS emphasizes Solution-Driven Science. We expect Solutions to inform and to entertain, leading to continued discussions and partnerships about Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences in Minnesota and beyond.

Allen Levine
Dean