University of Minnesota Extension food system educators have expertise in a range of topic areas including pest management, fruit and vegetable production, marketing advice and food safety.
What connects you to the land? For Josh Kielsmeier-Cook, that connection is locally grown food, especially when grown sustainably.
Kielsmeier-Cook recently joined the University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) as the director of statewide sustainable agriculture and food systems. He brings with him years of experience in agricultural research, education and project leadership, along with a wide-ranging network built through hands-on, collaborative work across the food system.
Kielsmeier-Cook grew up spending summers on his family’s farm in North Carolina, baling hay and driving tractors. As a teenager, his family moved to Bolivia, where he lived for six years. The experience shaped how he now understands agriculture, poverty and the relationship between people and land.
“There’s poverty and food insecurity in the U.S., but in Bolivia, seeing that at such a raw scale made me think differently about how humans live in relationship with their environment,” said Kielsmeier-Cook. That experience, he says, planted the idea that agriculture is not only an economic activity, but also a moral and spiritual one. It is a way people express care for land, community and each other.
He returned to the U.S. to get his undergraduate degree in environmental science. Nearing graduation, he considered going back to his roots and becoming a farmer. Similar to many others interested in farming, he found the barriers to entry were too high. He needed a different way to merge his love of farming, science and nature. This search led him to agricultural research and a master’s degree in plant pathology from the University of Minnesota.
A holistic philosophy
Over the ensuing 15 years, Kielsmeier-Cook’s career has bridged research and practice. He has worked as a federal agricultural research technician, a university researcher, a science teacher in Minneapolis Public Schools and most recently as a project manager on a federally funded grant project developing and commercializing a perennial grain crop, Kernza.
This interdisciplinary experience shaped both his professional network and his work philosophy. He describes his philosophy as rooted in listening first; he prioritizes learning from the people who are closest to the land and the communities affected by agricultural decisions. As a result of this process, he has fostered strong connections with farmers, researchers, nonprofit leaders, and Extension educators across Minnesota.
Kielsmeier-Cook’s belief that we live well by recognizing our role in the natural environment also guides his work. This conviction was further refined, in part, by his time working on an organic farm, where he practiced self-sufficiency by eating produce the community cultivated and hunting local deer. He described his integration with the environment as being intentional and holistic. "This land is me and I am the land. Things from the land were making me, on a cellular level,” he explained.
More than anything, Josh wants to help people connect with the environment and see it as a source — not just for basic needs like food and water — but also for deep spiritual nourishment.
Building relationships first
In his first weeks with RSDP, Kielsmeier-Cook has prioritized relationship-building, meeting with RSDP leaders across the state, connecting with project partners and learning about the work in the regions. He attended a statewide RSDP meeting in Grand Rapids just one week into his tenure. “The meeting’s focus on sustainable agriculture reinforced for me RSDP’s relationships with community members and access to statewide and University resources,” said Kielsmeier-Cook. “It was exciting to see those partnerships happening right before my eyes.”
Although Kielsmeier-Cook will be focused on strategic coordination as statewide director, he also sees great promise in the statewide role as a connector and translator. By leveraging his extensive network of researchers, academics and farmers and leaning into his work philosophy, he can easily envision opportunities to connect community-driven ideas with University resources, and vice versa.
His overarching hope is to uplift local solutions that help Minnesotans build their relationships with the land through their food systems and, as a result, improve those systems. For Kielsmeier-Cook, sustainable agriculture is not only about the practices or technologies, but also about helping Minnesotans see agriculture as a relationship with the land that can sustain food systems, nourish communities and cultivate connection.
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