ST. PAUL — University of Minnesota students and faculty are collaborating to develop an equitable culture in agricultural studies.

Fall 2018 enrollment statistics show that UMN’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences is roughly 85 percent white, compared with 79 percent white for the campus generally.

CFANS, which resides on the UMN-St. Paul campus, provides majors for those pursuing agricultural industries and food sciences.

Alexis Murillo, a recipient of the Scholarly Excellence in Equity and Diversity Award and a senior UMN student majoring in Agricultural Communication and Marketing, collaborates with as many organizations as possible to bring in other marginalized communities beyond students of color.

She believes inclusivity is a major key to highlighting agriculture’s wide-ranging impact on economic conditions and living situations.

“When I found out that I could start growing my own food or that I could do something to change my surrounding environment is when I felt more empowered in a lot of my intersecting identities — whether that was as a woman, whether that was as a woman of color, or whether that was as an individual, a city kid and as minority in this industry,” Murillo said.

Newly remodeled Pioneer Hall will house a living-learning community of up to 30 multicultural CFANS students in fall 2019.