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Minnesota’s African immigrant farmers celebrate first year as a group

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Last winter, they met at an organic conference in Wisconsin.

By spring, they’d formed a group, Minnesota African Immigrant Farmers Alliance (MAIFA).

On Sunday, they feasted and danced.

A whirlwind inaugural year for a group of 60-plus farmers dedicated to networking and advocating for African immigrant farmers in Minnesota culminated this weekend in a Maple Grove hotel ballroom, with vats of flat bread, kohlrabi, managu, roasted chicken, colorful attire and plenty of music.

“We are not the big fish with big lands,” said Jane Windsperger, a Kenyan immigrant who farms a small acreage near Ogilvie in the woods of central Minnesota. “We are starting, emerging farmers.”

Immigrants farming in Minnesota is a storied tradition. The Hmong American Farmers Association owns a spread of small farms on land west of Hwy. 52 in Dakota County. Latino farmers — sometimes after working for larger dairies or livestock processors — are increasingly seeking opportunities at landownership.

And, in keeping with centuries-old traditions in this region, Indigenous people continue to cultivate land and animals for food, particularly in recent years alongside the food sovereignty movement.

Earlier this year, Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith held a roundtable for minority farmers at the Good Acre in Falcon Heights, highlighting the diversity of Minnesota’s agricultural scene.

But in the sea of voices, many in the African immigrant community felt their stories — and challenges — could be lost.

“The diversity of people who come from Africa in itself is a good thing,” said Vitalis Tita, who grew up farming in Cameroon and now lives in Buffalo, farming in both Montrose and Medina. “But it presents a unique challenge for us.”

About 1 in 5 Minnesotans is a person of color. But, according to the latest agricultural census conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 99% of the state’s farmers are white.

MAIFA formed in the spring. Today, the alliance boasts some 60 farmers — possibly more after Sunday’s feast. And they have many plans for the year ahead.

In farming, like many industries, associations lobby for resources. The ongoing negotiations over the federal farm bill reauthorization and recent state funding for new and emerging farming initiatives are just two examples of troves of potential dollars for cash-strapped producers.

Such funding is good, Tita said. But sometimes programs aren’t tailored for the smallest farmers. He described one grant for $100,000 that requires a $25,000 contribution from the grantee.

“That’s not for us,” Tita said. “The wheel has been spinning, but not for people like us.”

Agricultural subsidies promote exports or food price stability. But this only benefits farmers who are familiar with grant applications or can navigate government portals. New dollars can buy new equipment, such as high tunnels to grow vegetables, or be used toward a down payment for land.

Those farmers who attended Sunday’s feast are hungry for all of the above.

Windsperger, who just harvested her second crop on the Kanabec County farm, was able to secure a cooler to store her veggies earlier this year. She said not only farmers but also representatives from state government and the region’s global agribusinesses stopped by on Sunday.

“Even a family from Ogilvie came down,” said Windsperger, who described her new friends as surprised when she first began farming in 2021. “Now they are so impressed, [saying] ‘Hey, we can eat food from here.'”

Sunday’s festival — based on a traditional end-of-harvest celebration in Africa — was meant to be a signal to other African immigrants in Minnesota, encouraging them to pick up farming as they may have farmed in their birth country.

“It doesn’t matter where you are coming from. You’re coming from Cameroon. I’m coming from Kenya. Some are coming from South Africa,” Windsperger said. “Wherever you’re coming from, your voice needs to be heard.”



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With a coin flip, Lucie Skjefte appointed to the Minneapolis school board

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The Minneapolis school board on Tuesday night appointed Lucie Skjefte, chair of the district’s American Indian Parent Advisory Committee, to fill the vacant District 3 board seat in the city’s center.

Her selection ultimately came down to chance.

Skjefte emerged from earlier ranked-choice voting in a tie with Fatimah Hussein, and the two then deadlocked, 4 to 4, in a live board vote before a coin was flipped in Skjefte’s favor.

They were among four finalists to succeed Faheema Feerayarre, who resigned in September, too late for the seat to be placed on the November ballot.

The move throws two new members into the mix as the school board works to erase an anticipated budget deficit and dig into a “transformation process” that could include closing and merging schools.

Greta Callahan, a former president of the teachers chapter of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, won election last week to the District 6 seat.

During an appearance before board members last Thursday, Skjefte, who is a Red Lake tribal member, spoke of her work as an Indigenous graphics designer and as director of operations for the Mni Sota Fund, a community development group that seeks to empower Native people.

She said she’d aim to “reach out and create spaces for every voice, especially for those from historically marginalized communities.”



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What to know about Forest Lake’s Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick to serve as defense secretary

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In picking Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense, President-elect Donald Trump has selected a military veteran and popular conservative media personality with a large following of his own.

Hegseth, 44, has developed a close rapport with Trump, who also reportedly considered him for a post in his first administration. Hegseth has lobbied Trump to release service members accused of war crimes.

Here are a few things to know about Hegseth.

He’s a Fox News personality and author

Co-host of Fox News Channel’s ”Fox & Friends Weekend,” Hegseth has been a contributor to the network for a decade. He developed a friendship with Trump through the president-elect’s regular appearances on the show. In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson complimented Hegseth’s military knowledge, saying his ”insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers.”

He’s also written a number of books, several for the network’s publishing imprint, including ”The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.” In announcing Hegseth’s nomination, Trump complimented that book, noting its ”nine weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE.”

Hegseth has served in the military, although he lacks senior military or national security experience.



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More than half of Minnesota county election offices receive bomb threats since Nov. 8

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Election offices in more than half of Minnesota’s counties have been targeted with emailed bomb threats since Nov. 8, the office of the Secretary of State said Tuesday.

The threats come as election workers are still in the process of verifying the results of the 2024 election.

In a statement, Secretary of State Steve Simon said his office is coordinating with local, state and federal partners to “ensure that our election officials can complete this important work and that those responsible for these threats are held accountable.”

“Threats of violence against election workers, aimed at disrupting our democracy, are absolutely unacceptable,” he said.

Turnout was high in Minnesota in 2024, but it was lower compared to the 2020 presidential election.

Unofficial 2024 results show about 76% of registered voters cast a ballot, down from the record-breaking 79.96% turnout in 2020, the office of the Secretary of State said last week.

The unofficial results, however, are higher than the 74.72% turnout recorded in 2016.



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