Announcing SFA’s new mission and strategic plan: Sharpening the focus of our work to serve you better.

By Lucinda Winter, Executive Director

After many months of work by our staff, consultants, board directors and all of you who completed our first-ever survey, I’m delighted to share SFA’s new mission and strategic roadmap with you.

This new mission and focus for our work felt necessary at this time. Our previous strategic plan was approved by the Association’s board of directors in 2019, just before Covid came along and remade the world. And because of the proliferation of organizations working to advance regenerative ag in Minnesota, many people have expressed to us that it can be confusing to tell them apart and know who to connect with for what.

So we set out with the clear goal of better differentiating SFA from the other amazing Minnesota NGOs advancing regenerative farming, and a desire to do better by you – our members.  How could we make our educational events and services more relevant and increase the value you place on being part of the SFA community?  How can SFA continue to lead in educating farmers and farming advocates on topics that matter the most, and to support the innovative thinking that creates new opportunities to scale up regenerative farming?

Our new mission – transforming agriculture one farm at a time – pays homage to SFA’s origins and long history as a farmer-to-farmer network. It also reminds us that we are part of a larger movement of farmers, landowners, local food and climate advocates seeking to change the agricultural paradigm to one that honors and supports the farmers who produce our food and protects our land and natural resources.

The road map that will guide our work during the next three years was developed largely in response to what you told us you value most about SFA in our recent survey – Education, Collaboration, and Community. These are some of the ways we’ll put those values into action:

• Expanding our partnerships
• Deepening collaborations with our Chapters
• Focusing on hands-on practical skills training and personalized technical assistance – bringing the classroom to your farm
• Enhancing your membership experience

Look for more articles from me in future issues of CONNECT diving a bit deeper into how our new strategic roadmap translates into meaningful value for our members.

Registration will open in the next few weeks for our 2025 Annual Conference, scheduled for Feb. 8 In St. Joseph, and for our Midwest Grazing and Soil Health Summit on March 19 and 20 in Willmar.  I look forward to seeing many of you at one of those flagship events or one of the many educational offerings being planned for the coming months.