Jane Maland Cady — Notable Women in Agriculture Award
Published on:
May 22, 2024
Jane Maland Cady, Director of the Global Collaboration for Resilient Food Systems, has been recognized as a notable woman in agriculture this week by Twin Cities Business alongside other incredible leaders across the region.
Jane is at the center of work across the globe to transform food systems for people and the planet. Amidst global conversations about how to advance agricultural solutions that serve all people, address hunger, and protect the planet, Jane’s leadership approach centers farmers and Indigenous communities, focusing on collaboration to enact meaningful change.
She and her team work directly with smallholder farmers in Africa and South America to advance equity and further agricultural research and practice while partnering with diverse actors in the Midwest and beyond to advance regenerative and agroecological funding flows, policies, and research norms and agendas.
In 2022 McKnight funded over 120 research projects through CRFS, and in 2023 Jane introduced an expanded program goal and strategy, building on the program’s locally-driven work to impact global food systems. Evident within this expanded program scope is her systems-thinking approach to the complex and interconnected issues of food production, which she developed during her doctoral work in agricultural education at the University of Minnesota, and her early career in the natural and organic value chain. Her holistic approach also informed the work of the Global Alliance for the Future of Food, an international alliance of philanthropic organizations advancing food systems transformation, which she co-founded.
Jane has long held that impactful efforts at the local level can create a groundswell of benefits. Just as her childhood on her family’s farm in Minnesota informs her passion for growing sustainable global food systems, so too does McKnight Foundation’s local legacy of commitments to equity, research, and the environment serve as a platform to spur global change.