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How did the Forever Green Initiative come about?
Well, if you really think about it, that happened in 1974. Philosophy has been there for a long time. One day I was giving a presentation and I basically set a topic for new flexible farming systems: evergreen crops. He caught Forever Green.
What is the relationship between university and enterprise?
we have 16 [crop-development teams]. Each of these is coordinated from the development of basic science (genomics, breeding agriculture) to commercialization and supply chain creation. This is what makes us unique in the world. Basically we have 16 mini companies. What I do is make sure these teams are coordinated and funded across the entire platform.
Every agricultural crop produced in the state of Minnesota, except sugar beets, came from the University of Minnesota’s department of agricultural science and plant genetics. There, hybrid corn was developed along with soybeans, wheat and perennial grass.
How did you decide on these 16 special products?
If you live in Minnesota, what do you think would be your biggest challenge if you wanted to plan for permanent life protection?
Winter hardiness?
Damn straight. You’re looking at a wide variety of potential crops that we know are extremely winter hardy. Then you say okay, this kind of penny or camellia can produce protein and oil. What is its value in the market? Maybe biofuel.
The state of Minnesota has 20 million acres of farmland. What percent of this land has cover crops? Two percent. It’s four o’clock in parts of the Midwest. Minnesota is low because we have a short growing season. If you kill a cover crop in Minnesota during the first or second week of April, you will not receive any ecosystem services. You’re just wasting your time and every farmer knows that.
So the value of these cover crops to corn-soybean farmers is that this new crop benefits their land, benefits the environment, and is a second source of income?
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