Don Wyse is remembered as an early champion of sustainable agriculture research in Minnesota

University of Minnesota professor Don Wyse is remembered for his passionate advocacy of sustainable crops and building networks to grow them.

Wyse died Tuesday from injuries sustained in a fall. He was 77.

Wyse co-founded the Forever Green Initiative more than a decade ago as a way to combat monoculture. The project researches and promotes alternative crops that protect water and soil. The perennial grain Kernza is one of more than a dozen sustainable crops developed at the U of M as part of the initiative.

Nick Jordan, who worked with Wyse for 30 years, said his colleague was a gifted scientist who was also very good at bringing people together to advance research.

“I think it comes down to his political instincts, and especially his interest in organizing people across lines of difference,” Jordan said. “This is a very rare trait of a scientist.”

Wyse recently marked a milestone of 50 years at the University of Minnesota. Jordan said Wyse was thinking about retiring in a few years, but wanted to make sure the Forever Green project was on solid ground before he left.

Wyse’s approach to science and organizing was shaped by his experience growing up on a farm in Ohio, Jordan said.

“He was absolutely convinced that if we’re going to be good stewards of land and water, wildlife and rural communities, it’s going to take all hands on deck,” he said. “The private sector, government, universities, farmers, rural communities, environmentalists all had to pull their shoulders together.”

Wyse was passionate and tenacious and saw a shift to more sustainable agriculture as a process spanning several decades.

“It took us 30 years to get to this point, but we now have what I call real crops that have real opportunities for market and for farmers to plant,” Wyse said during a 2021 interview. “And it’s really , really exciting.”

A range of 16 crops from hazelnuts to camelina are being developed through the Forever Green Initiative as potential sustainable crops.

Carmen Fernholz, an organic farmer from western Minnesota, has known and worked with Wyse for nearly 40 years.

He said Wyse overcame the distrust that generally existed between farmers and university researchers.

“Making a farmer feel like the work I was doing every day out in the field was just as important as the work happening at a major land-grant university became the core of our bond,” Fernholz said. “We can challenge each other but maintain the deepest respect for each other’s expertise and life experiences.”

The work Wyse pursued so passionately will continue, Jordan said, largely because of the networks he nurtured.

“There’s a whole river of effort, so to speak, flowing strongly, and we’re very confident that this work has what it needs to move forward,” he said. “And finally, our expression of gratitude, respect and love for Don is to continue to support and nurture that network of people. So his legacy is that network of people.”