Kathryn J Draeger

Woman in red shirt with round glasses
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Statewide Director, Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships
She/her/hers
[email protected]
651-470-7720
316 Hayes Hall
https://extension.umn.edu/regional-partnerships
Education

PhD, University of Minnesota, Water Resources Science
MS Soil, Water, and Climate
BS Life Sciences and Rhetoric

Areas of Interest

Supply Chains, Local Food Systems, Resilience in the face of disruption (space weather and solar storms), community engagement, sustainable development and higher education

Biography

Kathryn Draeger is Statewide Director for the U of M Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships and adjunct professor of Agronomy and Plant Genetics. She oversees statewide programming in sustainable development, including clean energy and sustainable ag and food systems. Dr. Draeger is currently principle investigator on USDA-AFRI-NIFA grant to develop innovative supply chains for locally produced food as well as other sustainable ag related efforts. She has been a Bush Leadership Fellowship and a MacArthur Scholar. She served as an Environmental Protection Commissioner in Iowa and was appointed to the Governor's Roundtable for Sustainable Development in Minnesota. Before joining the U she founded two successful corporations Sustainability International, Inc. and Environmental Ground, Inc. In 2007, Kathy and her family moved to rural Big Stone County MN to live and farm sustainably. Kathy holds a doctorate in water resources and master's in Soil Science from the University of Minnesota. Kathy enjoys flying parafoil kites (spring, summer, fall) and doing Liberty puzzles (winter)

Teaching

Grand Challenges course: Transitioning Minnesota to a Carbon Neutral Economy
Honor Course: First Principles in Sustainability

Research

Supply Chains, Rural Grocery Stores, Sustainable Agriculture

Select Publications

Draeger, Kathryn; Olive, Ren; Kim, Hye-Young; Hanawa Peterson, Hikaru; Jarvi, Monica; Park, Dojin; Jorgenson, Alma. (2020). 2019-2020 Minnesota Rural Grocery Survey Report. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/217207.

Kagen, A., Draeger, K., & Olive, R. (2020) Halal and Kosher Minnesota Meat Market Analysis. https://hdl.handle.net/11299/210220.

Draeger, Kathryn; Gold, Abby; Olive, Ren. (2020). COVID-19/Emergency 14-Day Meal Kit for Rural Grocery Stores. UMN Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/212116.

Draeger, Kathryn; Olive, Ren. (2020). Tips for Small Town Stores: Curbside Pickup and Delivery Model. UMN Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/212246.

Olive, Ren; Jewett, Jane; Draeger, Kathryn; Lanthier, Karen. (2020). Farm to Grocery Toolkit: Opening New Farm to Grocery Market Channels to Help Increase Access to Minnesota Specialty Crops and Local Foods. UMN Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/212328.

Draeger, K., & Olive, R. (2018). Farm to Rural Grocery to Wholesale Backhaul Project Regulatory Considerations. University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships. Retrieved from http://z.umn.edu/3qvr.

Honors and Awards

2020 Dean's Outstanding Leadership Award, University of Minnesota Extension