Food professionals cultivating change in regional food system

During monthly happy hours, Minnesota Young Food Professionals connect, learn and catalyze action

By TESHA M. CHRISTENSEN

A group of young professionals who are passionate about food is hoping to change the food system in the region.

Among them is Midway resident Daniel Gerdes, who joined Minnesota Young Food Professionals (MNYFP) a year ago through an internship with Hamline University, and now serves on its steering committee.

PHOTO RIGHT: Photo left: MNYFP monthly happy hours include delicious food and drinks. Midway resident Daniel Gerdes (center of table) is deeply thankful the group exists. “Some of my greatest memories with family (when I was younger) and with my close friends (more recently) involve making food with them,” remarked Gerdes. (Photo submitted)

“The value in MNYFP for me is a very welcoming community of individuals who genuinely care about the food system in the region, and are excited to talk about/become involved in/support local efforts to make the food system more sustainable and equitable,” said Gerdes.

“We’re helping connect various local food leaders, movements, and projects to support each other and realize the change they desire to see in our community.”

MNYFP founder Eric Sannerud agreed. “For me, MNYFP is all about building friendships with fellow young folks who are working towards a better food system—relationships that will allow us to more effectively lead change together, now and into the future,” said Sannerud.

PHOTO LEFT: Minnesota Youth Food Professionals visit Prairie Horizons Farm in Starbuck, Minn. Left to right: Eric Sannerud, farmer; Mary Jo Forbord, registered dietitian and farmer at Horizons Farm; Hannah Jastram, registered dietitian and storyteller; and Donald Warneke, SNAP-Ed educator. (Photo submitted)

Sannerud operates Mighty Axe Hops in Ham Lake, working as a fourth-generation farmer on the land his great-grandfather settled. This year, Mighty Axe sold hops to Burning Brothers (located in the Midway neighborhood), Fulton Brewing, Bad Weather Brewing, Fair State, Bent Brewstillery and 10K Brewing.

Full-time food professionals into ‘foodies’

While some MNYFP group members like Sannerud work full-time as farmers, others are simply interested in the food movement and are self-defined “foodies” interested in healthy eating.

Gerdes falls somewhere in between.

Employed through AmeriCorps VISTA through the Phillips Family Foundation’s “Phillips Sectoral Employment Initiative,” Gerdes is placed at the Pohlad Family Foundation as a Program Associate with the Pohlad Foundation’s Youth Advancement Program (YAP). His range of duties includes creating a plan to expand the use of SNAP Employment and Training money to improve employment and training services for the State’s SNAP recipients (formerly known as food stamps).

“I think there are several very large issues the food system faces today—the greatest one among them is access to healthy food,” said Gerdes. “Wealth/income disparities in the US, and especially here in Minnesota, create grave health disparities for people of color and low-income people. The price of healthy food often puts it out of reach for people living near the poverty line.

“While SNAP helps expand families’ budgets to make that food more accessible, we must do more to help folks living in poverty access healthy food…especially locally-grown healthy food.”

PHOTO RIGHT: Hannah Jastram appreciates the deeply personal nature of the group and has been inspired to write more on her blog, landfoodlife.blogspot.com. Two of her closest friends are regular attendees, not because they are connected to the “food industry” in any formal sense, but because they respond to and connect with the passion of the other attendees, she pointed out. (Photo submitted)

Fellow steering committee member, Hannah Jastram is also working to change health and nutrition policies in the state. Jastram’s experiences touch upon many areas in the food industry. She worked in restaurants for eight years, got an undergrad degree in nutrition and dietetics, earned credentials as a registered dietitian nutritionist in 2012, and currently works as a communications associate for University of Minnesota Extension Center for Family Development.

“ECFD includes health and nutrition programs that work to change policy, systems, and environments to make the healthy choice the easy choice for Minnesota families, and it is my privilege to support them in this work,” she explained.

Monthly happy hours

MNYFP’s mission is to “connect driven, young food professionals in the greater Twin Cities area to develop a professional community, generate and share knowledge, and catalyze action.”

While some of those qualifiers are loosely defined (young and professional), the group is attempting to build a more connected sphere where people interested in changing the food system—or who are already doing so—can connect with each other. By connecting, they can help support each other’s work and collaborate to be more effective, explained Gerdes.

Minnesota Young Food Professionals hosts monthly happy hours. The next one will be Tue., Dec. 15 from 6-8pm at Wedge Table in Minneapolis.

PHOTO LEFT: Minnesota Young Food Professionals celebrate their second anniversary in November 2015. The group hosts monthly happy hours centered around a theme. On Dec. 15, the group will meet at Wedge Table in Minneapolis from 6-8 p.m. (Photo submitted)

These monthly social events are centered around a theme. Recent topics included: Are we what we eat?; To organic or not to organic; and soil health and water quality. Local food system leaders share their stories and field questions from group members. MNYFP also hosts conversations on a range of different topics surrounding food. Events include icebreaker and team building activities.

Group members also visit local organizations to be more involved in food projects, such as helping with the harvest at Mighty Axe Hops Farm harvest and gleaning with Fare For All.

Connections

“The core function of MNYFP—to connect people to each other—is what feeds my soul. Nothing generates warm fuzzies for me like connecting people to the resources they need,” remarked Jastram. “To be a happy person, family, community, or city, you need to experience a meaningful connection with other humans, to be heard by others. MNYFP creates space for people to experience those connections and be heard in a way that attendees might not get in their place of work/education/faith.”

Jastram appreciates the deeply personal nature of the group. Two of her closest friends are regular attendees, not because they are connected to the “food industry” in any formal sense, but because they respond to and connect with the passion of the other attendees, she pointed out.

“Food is so personal, so intimate, and our discussions about food regularly go to those intimate places,” Jastram observed.

“The commitment among our ‘Cultivators’ (our word for leaders) to maintaining a community is authentic to our needs,” stated Sannerud. “We’re not your usual professionals group, and we’re not trying to be.”

Gerdes pointed out that the steering committee is always talking about how the group can be ever more inclusive to people who might not feel like they fit the group description of “young food professional.”

He is deeply thankful the group exists. “It’s very uplifting to know I have a time (at least) once per month that I can get together with other people in the Twin Cities who are actively involved with changing the way our food system operates,” Gerdes remarked. “I truly believe the more connections we make between the various moving parts of the vast regional food system, the smaller the space we’re all operating in will seem.”

Jennifer Nicklay, the newest MNYFP cultivator, is constantly inspired by the people she meets at MNYFP events, and impressed with how much motivation folks provide each other to act on their dreams and goals.

“The support network we’re developing will touch all aspects of the Twin Cities because we come together from the arts, education, farming, hospitality, and corporate sectors,” said Nicklay, who is a volunteer community gardener with Fairshare Farm in the Southeast Como and works at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota.

“As we continue to take on leadership roles in these sectors, we’ll be able to reach out to one another and more effectively enact change.”

For more information, check out the group’s Facebook page or email minnyfp@gmail.com.