Renewing the Countryside is a nonprofit organization that strengthens rural areas by championing and supporting rural communities, farmers, artists, entrepreneurs, educators, activists and other people who are renewing the countryside through sustainable and innovative initiatives, businesses, and projects.
In 2022-23, CURA partnered with Renewing the Countryside and a student researcher to study agricultural easements as a policy tool to preserve agricultural land in Minnesota. Agricultural easements protect the long-term viability of the nation’s food supply by preventing conversion of productive working lands to non-agricultural uses. Land protected by agricultural land easements provides additional public benefits, including environmental quality, historic preservation, wildlife habitat, and protection of open space.
In order to build awareness of what this policy is and how it works, CURA's Public Policy Design Lab connected Renewing the Countryside with illustrator Khou Vue to create a graphics-forward one-pager that visually conveys important information about agricultural easements in an inviting, easy to understand way. The visuals were shared at an exhibit at this year's State Fair.
Download a print-ready PDF of the "Understanding Agricultural Easements in Minnesota" one-pager
Lee Guekguezian
Lee Guekguezian (she/her) is a community-based researcher committed to decision-making justice and elevating lived experiences through research. As a program director at the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA), they lead initiatives that connect university resources with community-driven projects across Minnesota. Their work focuses on facilitating trust-based collaborations, translating complex findings into accessible narratives, and using data visualization to explore patterns of displacement, ownership, and investment.
Lee holds a Master’s in Urban and Regional Planning from UCLA and a degree in Geography from Macalester College. Their experience spans affordable housing policy and funding, spatial analysis, and program evaluation, working to democratize research and data to amplify community narratives. Outside of work, Lee enjoys biking around the Twin Cities, making rugs, and being a regular at iPho in St. Paul.
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