Politicians weigh in at Futures Summit

Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on March 22, 2009

This is the title of an article at the Mankato Free Press about the March 13th Regional Southern MN Economic Development Summit. The Rural Enterprise Center’s agripreneurs development model was voted the second most important priority for the development of the Agriculture and Food Sector as it pertains to the incorporation and full utilization of skills, assets and visioning coming out from the Latino/Hispanic communities of the region.

We are currently developing the strategic plan for the large scale regional deployment of this model with a launch strategy focused in 8 SE MN counties, but including strategic outreach to other promising targeted Hispanic/Latino communities in the region.

Our economic development model is centered in capitalizing on Hispanic/Latino assets, including the work ethic, agrarian background, family values, and matching this to the regional economic opportunity found in the agriculture and food sectors and related manufacturing. The model includes a phased step-by-step approach to support families from their current economic situation, through a process designed to deliver consistent short, medium and long-term returns and competitive advantages for the region.

Our model seeks to effectively capitalize on key regional economic opportunities where Hispanic/Latinos have competitive advantages, while contributing regional product brands, an new economic development strategies that also address low wage issues through enterprise development, thus addressing poverty as a structural issue related to wealth migration patterns, not as a result of lack of resources in our communities.

Our model is designed to contribute to the reversing of the downward trend in wages that has characterized the food, agriculture and its related manufacturing sectors over the last two decades. This factor has caused our region to fall in competitiveness compared to the rest of the state and the nation. Trends like this, are the result of lack of innovation and creation of opportunities that have consequently cause a massive out-migration of young people who don’t see value in row crop agriculture, machinery and low-wage assembly line work that comes from this sector’s manufacturing processes. While this is true according to the findings of the Regional Competitiveness Project, it is also true that these sectors represent the second most important strength and future opportunities.

For us at the Rural Enterprise Center, this factors provide the raw material and the detailed analysis needed to develop our regional plans and strategies, with the big picture in mind, but with the improvement of the family unit as the end-goal. Our model does not have "job creation" as a strategy, but as an end result of a system’s thinking approach. We understand economic development to be the result of innovative enterprises that add a competitive advantage to our region in key sector of opportunities, through the use of our strengths and competitive advantages, especially in the new immigrant Hispanic/Latino sector.

We are keeping our attention in economic development strategies in the food and agriculture sector that contribute to the future trends and opportunities in sustainable designs, and can present a challenge for our youth to engage further in the natural sciences, technology, low-impact equipment, carbon sequestration, soil sciences, microbiological and an endless list of opportunities if we go beyond row crops and jobs oriented thinking in this sector.

The regional competitiveness process looked far and deep and generated a road map that if continuously improved will deliver the enterprises that will take advantage of the long-term economic competitiveness for the region. This process will be culminating on May 15th at the Southern Minnesota Strategy Summit.