Tony Minnick
Putting ideals into action
Loyola alum Tony Minnick helps build sustainable, equitable food systems
As an idealistic teenager from Saint Louis, Missouri, Tony Minnick chose Loyola University Chicago for his undergraduate education because he felt it was the ideal place to discover how he could help solve critical environmental problems and build a more sustainable and equitable future. He completed a B.S. in environmental science in 2014, and today, he helps create more environmentally sound and socially just sustainable food systems as the Agriculture Park director at the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture in Columbia, Missouri. Minnick shared his thoughts about how his Loyola education helped him launch a meaningful career focused on making a positive difference in the world.
Tony Minnick helps create more sustainable food systems as the Agriculture Park director at the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture in Columbia, Missouri.
Q: What drew you to Loyola and the environmental science program for your undergraduate education?
I very much wanted the experience of exploring the diverse cultural riches of Chicago, especially the live music. A beautiful and breezy Lake Shore Campus tour convinced me to apply, and some generous financial aid led me to accept. It's hard to ignore the ways in which we are failing in our role as stewards of the earth. As an idealistic teenager, it seemed a B.S. in environmental science might be the best interdisciplinary approach toward finding my place in being a part of the solution.
Q: How has your career developed since graduating from Loyola?
I spent the first two years after graduation getting my hands dirty working for small family farms and learning all the essentials of farm work you don't typically learn from growing up in the city and getting a liberal arts degree - securing truck loads, bucking straw bales, small-engine repair, basic carpentry, etc. I knew, to some degree, how much I didn't know, and I needed to round out all the science and concepts with the real world, practical daily work of operating a farm, a learning process that never ends. These experiences helped me progress into farm management with the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture (CCUA) at a time when I was seeking an opportunity to produce food within the context of a broader, more immediate community, which urban agriculture is excellent for providing. I've loved working for CCUA and have been with them since 2016, working in different capacities and seeing through the fast growth and development of Columbia's Agriculture Park.
Q: What do you do in your current job, and how does it relate to your education in sustainability?
I direct operations at Columbia's Agriculture Park, where we utilize demonstration gardens and a one-acre production farm to connect the community to where their food comes from. We also donate over 50,000 pounds of fresh produce annually to our food bank. Additionally, I coordinate a USDA-sponsored Market Gardening Apprenticeship program from the site, where we provide a season-long opportunity to learn the technical grower and entrepreneurial skills needed to run a market garden operation in mid-Missouri. Marketing gardening is small scale agricultural production, usually with direct sales to consumers. It can be a good way for people to increase their income or explore agriculture as a career. This type of small-scale production can also become a small business grossing six figures. We teach our community how to produce abundant food without dependence on herbicides/pesticides, enhancing the health of the whole farm organism through diverse cover crop plantings, native habitat planted for beneficial insects and pollinators, and crop rotation strategies that never leave the soil uncovered.
Q: How did your experience at Loyola prepare you for the career you chose to pursue?
I interned at the student-led farm at LUREC (the Loyola Retreat and Ecology Campus) for a summer and then worked on-campus in the Winthrop Garden and with aquaponics systems in the IES (now SES) Greenhouse. Those experiences put me in a state of continuous wonder, and the respective supervisors at these sites, Alex Tuchman and Kevin Erickson, demonstrated a love and enthusiasm for the work that I found very contagious. It was all very much in line with the Ignatius-attributed direction to "go and set the world on fire" with your passion. It's easy to inspire folks when you farm in nature's image and prioritize above- and below-ground diversity above all else, and I've found success supervising farm teams and attracting the right people for our work in developing Columbia's Agriculture Park by continuing to nurture the spark my mentors at Loyola fired up in me.
Q: What are some of the highlights from your time at Loyola?
I loved my time at Loyola - the neighborhood Thai food, the unbelievable travel experience through the Ricci Scholars Study Abroad Program, the transformational summer farm internship at LUREC, facilitating outdoor adventures through Ramble Outdoors, and work in the school's aquaponics demonstration project. And the tasty times when I finally got to pan fry a tilapia we'd raised in the greenhouse! I said 'yes' to a lot of opportunities in school and loved them all.
Q: What do you find most interesting or meaningful about your current work?
When deciding how we produce the food we grow for hunger relief in Columbia, I often think about the Moses Maimonides quote, "No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated with any other means." I'm endlessly inspired by learning about the ways that vital, living soils beget vital, healthy crops, which beget vital, healthy livestock, and so on, in nourishing ourselves.
Q: What advice would you give current environmental science students or those considering pursuing a degree in Loyola's School of Environmental Sustainability?
A healthy farm ecosystem is the most dynamic learning laboratory. Take your science education outside and learn from the best instructor! Better yet, with the average age of a farmer at 57 and rising, learn how to produce your own food and become a farmer!
Q: What drew you to Loyola and the environmental science program for your undergraduate education?
I very much wanted the experience of exploring the diverse cultural riches of Chicago, especially the live music. A beautiful and breezy Lake Shore Campus tour convinced me to apply, and some generous financial aid led me to accept. It's hard to ignore the ways in which we are failing in our role as stewards of the earth. As an idealistic teenager, it seemed a B.S. in environmental science might be the best interdisciplinary approach toward finding my place in being a part of the solution.
Q: How has your career developed since graduating from Loyola?
I spent the first two years after graduation getting my hands dirty working for small family farms and learning all the essentials of farm work you don't typically learn from growing up in the city and getting a liberal arts degree - securing truck loads, bucking straw bales, small-engine repair, basic carpentry, etc. I knew, to some degree, how much I didn't know, and I needed to round out all the science and concepts with the real world, practical daily work of operating a farm, a learning process that never ends. These experiences helped me progress into farm management with the Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture (CCUA) at a time when I was seeking an opportunity to produce food within the context of a broader, more immediate community, which urban agriculture is excellent for providing. I've loved working for CCUA and have been with them since 2016, working in different capacities and seeing through the fast growth and development of Columbia's Agriculture Park.
Q: What do you do in your current job, and how does it relate to your education in sustainability?
I direct operations at Columbia's Agriculture Park, where we utilize demonstration gardens and a one-acre production farm to connect the community to where their food comes from. We also donate over 50,000 pounds of fresh produce annually to our food bank. Additionally, I coordinate a USDA-sponsored Market Gardening Apprenticeship program from the site, where we provide a season-long opportunity to learn the technical grower and entrepreneurial skills needed to run a market garden operation in mid-Missouri. Marketing gardening is small scale agricultural production, usually with direct sales to consumers. It can be a good way for people to increase their income or explore agriculture as a career. This type of small-scale production can also become a small business grossing six figures. We teach our community how to produce abundant food without dependence on herbicides/pesticides, enhancing the health of the whole farm organism through diverse cover crop plantings, native habitat planted for beneficial insects and pollinators, and crop rotation strategies that never leave the soil uncovered.
Q: How did your experience at Loyola prepare you for the career you chose to pursue?
I interned at the student-led farm at LUREC (the Loyola Retreat and Ecology Campus) for a summer and then worked on-campus in the Winthrop Garden and with aquaponics systems in the IES (now SES) Greenhouse. Those experiences put me in a state of continuous wonder, and the respective supervisors at these sites, Alex Tuchman and Kevin Erickson, demonstrated a love and enthusiasm for the work that I found very contagious. It was all very much in line with the Ignatius-attributed direction to "go and set the world on fire" with your passion. It's easy to inspire folks when you farm in nature's image and prioritize above- and below-ground diversity above all else, and I've found success supervising farm teams and attracting the right people for our work in developing Columbia's Agriculture Park by continuing to nurture the spark my mentors at Loyola fired up in me.
Q: What are some of the highlights from your time at Loyola?
I loved my time at Loyola - the neighborhood Thai food, the unbelievable travel experience through the Ricci Scholars Study Abroad Program, the transformational summer farm internship at LUREC, facilitating outdoor adventures through Ramble Outdoors, and work in the school's aquaponics demonstration project. And the tasty times when I finally got to pan fry a tilapia we'd raised in the greenhouse! I said 'yes' to a lot of opportunities in school and loved them all.
Q: What do you find most interesting or meaningful about your current work?
When deciding how we produce the food we grow for hunger relief in Columbia, I often think about the Moses Maimonides quote, "No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated with any other means." I'm endlessly inspired by learning about the ways that vital, living soils beget vital, healthy crops, which beget vital, healthy livestock, and so on, in nourishing ourselves.
Q: What advice would you give current environmental science students or those considering pursuing a degree in Loyola's School of Environmental Sustainability?
A healthy farm ecosystem is the most dynamic learning laboratory. Take your science education outside and learn from the best instructor! Better yet, with the average age of a farmer at 57 and rising, learn how to produce your own food and become a farmer!