In the heart of Minnesota’s vibrant Red River Valley, the nonprofit organization PRAIRIE is leading the charge in nurturing the next generation of small-scale farmers. Verna Kragnes and Rick Hall founded PRAIRIE, short for Prairie Rose Agricultural Institute for Research, Innovation & Education, which has become a beacon of opportunity for aspiring farmers. Offering a multifaceted approach to education and support, PRAIRIE manages a farm with a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, a folk school, and a farm incubator co-op catering to diverse participants, including youth and beginning farmers.
To expand access and create pathways for underrepresented communities in farming and natural resource professions, PRAIRIE received a $4,000 NCR-SARE Youth Educator grant in 2021. The project aimed to engage students, teachers, and community members in habitat restoration and food production within community gardens. Utilizing the transformative Earth Partnership Curriculum from UW-Madison, students learned how to work with local farmers and organizations to bring their vision to life, building raised beds and planting vegetables, fruit trees, and native pollinator plants. They even created a medicine wheel garden at the Gladys Ray Indigenous Community Garden (pictured upper right).
The grant enabled PRAIRIE to seed a youth development project that, in turn, has become a Youth, Food, and Ecology Partnership, including five organizations with 16 youth stewards working in 5 community gardens and two rain gardens. Rick Hall, director of education and program development at PRAIRIE, talked about the project’s broader impact, stating, “This initiative will begin to foster a next generation of land and water stewards by creating career pathways and retention strategies for under-represented populations in farming and natural resource professions.”
The project strengthened ties within the community and paved the way for future endeavors. Building on its success, PRAIRIE was awarded another NCR-SARE Youth Educator grant in 2024 to continue its mission of empowering underserved youth and their families.
“Including our 2024 project, we are pioneering pathways to include BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and other underserved communities in regenerative agriculture to meet needs for growing food, farmers and leaders in a rural and urban food system and foodshed,” said Hall. “Youth and adults need to know where their food comes from and that they can grow their own. Sustainability is everyone’s responsibility. It occurs in a healthy ECO-system, not an EGO-system.”
Dig Deeper
Learn more about the Earth Partnership program curriculum here: https://earthpartnership.wisc.edu/
NCR-SARE’s Youth Educator grant program starts accepting proposals in mid-August. Learn more: https://northcentral.sare.org/Grants/.
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Organization | PRAIRIE (Prairie Rose Agricultural Institute for Research, Innovation & Education) |
| Founders | Verna Kragnes and Rick Hall |
| Location | Fargo, ND, in Minnesota’s Red River Valley |
| Mission | Nurture the next generation of small-scale farmers, focusing on underrepresented communities |
| Funding Source | $4,000 NCR-SARE Youth Educator grant (2021) |
| Project Focus | Habitat restoration and food production in community gardens |
| Educational Curriculum | Earth Partnership Curriculum from UW-Madison |
| Key Activities | - Building raised beds - Planting vegetables, fruit trees, and native pollinator plants - Creating a medicine wheel garden |
| Partnerships | Youth, Food, and Ecology Partnership (5 organizations) |
| Youth Participants | 16 youth stewards |
| Gardens Involved | 5 community gardens and 2 rain gardens |
| 2024 Grant Award | Received another NCR-SARE Youth Educator grant to continue empowering underserved youth |
| Vision | Pioneering pathways for BIPOC and underserved communities in regenerative agriculture |
| Key Quote | “Sustainability is everyone’s responsibility. It occurs in a healthy ECO-system, not an EGO-system.” |
View Related SARE Grants:
- Multicultural FOOD and ECOLOGY Youth Initiative (YENC21-162)
- Multicultural Urban Food & Ecology Initiative: YOUTH STEWARDS (YENC24-216)