Join us for a STEP Panel featuring four women working in agriculture and food systems, moderated by STEP Professor Bonnie Keeler. This panel is free and open to the public; refreshments will be provided to registrants. RSVP Here.
This panel promises a rich exploration of the complex landscape of food and agriculture policy in Minnesota and nationally. The speakers will share insights, strategies, and challenges faced in their respective roles, offering a comprehensive view of the efforts to create a sustainable and resilient agricultural future for the state. From climate resilience to environmental impact and policy organizing, this discussion will inspire and inform individuals passionate about the intersection of agriculture, food, policy, and the environment.
Meet the Panelists:
Ariel Kagan:
Ariel Kagan joined the MFU team as the Climate and Working Lands Program Director in February 2023. Her background is in agricultural economics and policy, and she’s spent her career working at the intersection of ag, sustainability, and community resilience. She has worked across sectors to support farmers, climate resilience, and policy development. Most recently, she worked at a non-profit supporting conservation agriculture and corporate sustainability programs, working to create resilient landscapes across the Midwest. She grew up in St. Paul, and has family in Otter Tail County.
Anne Schechinger:
Anne Schechinger is Environmental Working Group’s Midwest Director. Her work explores agriculture’s impact on the environment and analyzes how government policies can reduce agricultural pollution. As an undergraduate at Kalamazoo College, Anne researched the economics of natural resource valuation. In graduate school at Michigan State, she studied the commercial feasibility of growing environmentally sustainable crops.
Amanda Koehler:
Amanda Koehler joined LSP’s staff as a policy organizer in 2017. She is now the Manager of LSP’s Policy Department and leads LSP’s federal policy organizing, land access and land legacy policy organizing, and other state policy organizing, along with LSP’s Organizing & Social Change Cohort and LSP’s Family Farm Breakfast & Lobby Day. Amanda has a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and a master’s degree in advocacy and political leadership. She has experience with stopping factory farm proposals, state and federal agricultural and environmental policy, electoral organizing, and labor organizing. Amanda lives in Saint Paul with her husband, Willie, her three cats, a small flock of chickens, and enjoys growing her own food, cooking, exploring new restaurants, hiking, and meeting farm dogs.
Laura Schreiber
Laura Schreiber is an organizer in soil health & climate and regional food systems with LSP’s Policy Department. She first joined LSP as a Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs (HECUA) intern in 2018, helping to launch our Local Foods Campaign. Passionate about creating a more diverse, resilient and just global food system, Laura knew that to create real change she needed to organize in her community and build the power of Minnesotans across the state to achieve the type of food system that people and the land need. When she is not listening to food policy podcasts or trying to set up compost programs or reading recipes books and cooking, she can be found hiking and climbing around Minnesota! Originally from Rogers, Minn., Laura graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in 2019 with degrees in Urban Studies and Public Relations and a minor in Leadership.