University of Minnesota details GREET program, Forever Green breeding work; DOE awards $10 million for winter oilseed research

University of Minnesota leaders told the House Ag Finance and Policy Committee that the state’s recurring GREET investment has funded faculty and extension hires and helped translate research into farm-level practices, and that a Forever Green project has received a $10 million federal award to advance winter oilseed research.

Dean Brian Buren of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences (CFANS) said GREET — Agricultural Research, Education, Extension and Technology Transfer — was created to “support productivity and agricultural growth through research, education [and] extension” and to move university discoveries into use on farms. He described GREET as a roughly 10‑year initiative and said the state’s recurring investment since 2015 totals about $39,000,000.

GREET funding, Buren said, has supported a cohort of new researchers and extension educators: “There’s 21 CFANS faculty, 5 College of Vet Med faculty, and 9 Extension Educators,” he told the committee. Those hires have, he said, leveraged sponsored awards (more than 364 on the university’s accounting) and private and federal grants that multiply the state investment.

Why this matters: Committee members…