U professor Don Wyse’s legacy reaches far

Don Wyse, a University of Minnesota professor, a leader in regenerative agriculture and co-founder of the Forever Green Initiative, the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and Green Lands Blue Waters, died earlier this month at the age of 77 surrounded by his family.

Wyse recently celebrated his 50th anniversary as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Minnesota, according to an obituary shared by his family. During his tenure, he taught thousands of undergraduate students, advised more than 100 graduate students, published more than 200 scientific journal articles, authored two book chapters, and held 14 research patents and six plant variety patents.

Ohio to Minnesota

Wyse grew up on his family’s farm in Wauseon, Ohio, and received his bachelor of science degree from Ohio State and his doctorate in plant physiology and biochemistry from the University of Michigan. He married Beverly Ann Clark in 1969.

Wyse told Agweek in 2022 that he was brought to Minnesota in 1974 by grass seed producers in northern Minnesota who wanted to add a perennial crop to their annual cropping system.

“They wanted to expand the grass seed industry, which is really based on a suite of perennial grasses that you don’t have to plant every year and you can harvest in the middle of the summer,” Wyse said at an event at Albert Lea Seed in 2022 to highlight the work of the Forever Green Initiative.

Minnesota farmers like Richard Magnusson saw perennial wheat varieties as a “holy grail,” reducing erosion and tillage costs while protecting Minnesota’s climate.

“Generally speaking, perennials have an advantage in the landscape,” Magnusson said in a 2016 interview with the Pioneer Press about Kernza, an intercropping wheatgrass that Wyse’s team developed. “On the prairie, most plants are perennials.”

Forever Green Initiative

The final phase of Wyse’s career involved a broader vision of Midwestern agriculture.

“He was instrumental in bringing together individuals across the agricultural infrastructure to work on the most challenging issues affecting agriculture, the environment and society,” his obituary said. “He successfully formed several formal partnerships and collaborations between farmers, universities, governments, foundations, large food companies, conservation groups and leaders from rural and urban communities.”

Wyse co-founded the Forever Green Initiative in 2012, which researches and promotes alternative crops that protect water and soil. Today, the Forever Green Initiative portfolio includes more than 15 crops, each supported by a multidisciplinary team that may have expertise in genomics, breeding, agronomy, natural resource sciences, food science, sociology, economics and commercialization.

Wyse saw the initiative grow to the point where it had partners in public and private companies and more than 50 researchers developing crops that could thrive in the Upper Midwest. Last year, Cargill donated $2.5 million to support five years of research by the Forever Green Initiative. In 2022, the New York Times called Wyse a visionary in an article titled “Donald Wyse is Growing a New Future for Farming.”

“We’ve come a long way,” Wyse said in 2022. “If we look at the grass seed industry in northern Minnesota and Roseau and Lake of the Woods counties, those perennial grasses are the most profitable crops in those two counties.”

‘A dynamic force’

A tribute from the Friends of the Mississippi River recalled his “seemingly boundless energy, intelligence and humor,” a “person of big, pragmatic ideas and the will to make them happen.”

Steve Morse, a Minnesota state senator and deputy commissioner of the Minnesota DNR, praised Wyse for including the community’s voice in decisions about agriculture in the state. He “thrived on a steady stream of engagement,” Morse wrote in a tribute on the Minnesota Environmental Partnership website.

Connie Fernholz Carlson, assistant director of the University of Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships, wrote in a recent tribute to Wyse that he was “a dynamic force for clean water, healthy soil, sustainable agriculture and a fierce advocate for rural communities.”

“While his loss is immense, Don also believed that the work required ‘all hands on deck.’ I believe his greatest skill was his ability to connect with people from all walks of life, tell them the story of his work, and turn them into advocates for sustainability in their corners of the world. I am one of them.”

A celebration of Don Wyse’s life will be held Friday at the McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota. The service will begin at 2 p.m. with a reception to follow.