For close to a decade, a Mankato-based nonprofit launched in the wake of the Great Recession has played a key role in helping Waseca County’s flagship industry to expand and grow, much to the applause of the Waseca County Board of Commissioners.
At its regular business meeting last Tuesday, the board heard a presentation from Sam Ziegler of Greenseam, which plays a key role in supporting many of the more than 1,000 businesses throughout the region which are part of or related to the ag sector.
Ziegler said the ag’s remarkable, recession-proof resilience and broad reach are both defining characteristics of the region’s backbone industry. From production to professional services, he noted that the range of businesses tied into the industry is incredibly wide.
As the world continues to grow, Ziegler said that demand for food will continue to increase and in the heartland of the Midwest, Waseca and south central Minnesota will be especially well positioned to meet the food needs of those living in areas less suited to agriculture.
Before helping to launch Greenseam, an initiative of Greater Mankato Growth, Ziegler worked in ag, traveling the world to market Minnesota soybeans, pork and beef. He said that while locals might not always appreciate it, south central Minnesota has a uniquely productive ag industry.
“As a region we all look very similar — we have crops, we have livestock, and we’re in this vast region with lower population masses,” Ziegler said. “But if you look at the global standpoint, most of the world lives on a mountain, in a desert or in coastal areas that don’t produce food.”
While the region’s ag economy has steadily grown over the decades, Ziegler said that Greenseam has the incredibly ambitious goal of further boosting the local ag industry and its brands by establishing the region in the American mindset as a “Silicon Valley” of agriculture.
“We have the power and the strength of an industry and expertise and knowledge to really hold a brand that’s at the level of a Silicon Valley or a Wall Street,” Ziegler said. “It’s just in a different setting.”
Meeting workforce needs is a challenge not only for south central Minnesota’s ag industry, but for all of rural America. To meet the needs of area businesses, Greenseam helps local businesses to build and expand internship and employee recruitment and retention programs.
In collaboration with local higher education institutions Minnesota State University-Mankato and South Central College, as well as local High Schools, Greenseam has also sought to provide interested students with smooth paths into high quality, in-demand jobs in the agriculture sector.
Questioned by Commissioner DeeAnne Malterer, Ziegler said that MSU has taken particular care to prioritize its ag programming, making sure that students initially inclined to pursue other tracks understand the potential opportunities available for them in the ag industry.
More workers are needed to keep up with the Greenseam’s ambitious goals for growth, which have produced extensive external investment. Close to $1 billion in economic impacts have been felt from large ag-related developments throughout the region.
Ziegler added that many smaller projects have also made a crucial difference in strengthening the local ag community, and Greenseam has helped to cultivate them by giving local small businesses in the ag sector the tools and connections they need to expand.
2024 represents the first year of Greenseam’s second five year plan. While the first half-decade as an active organization saw major successes, Ziegler said that the organization is continuing to focus on cultivating growth from a regional perspective.
“We have to continue to build this regional ecosystem,” Ziegler said. “We’re a small community that has a large reach.”
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