A Hot Dog Competes and is a Wiener When investing in ethanol was first proposed to state officials and bankers, many balked and questioned whether farmer-owned plants could compete with huge agribusiness processors. Despite the skepticism Prairie Farmers Cooperative built their own processing facility. Still, they wondered how could a family farmer hot dog compete […]
Elmwood Stock Farm
If Elmwood Stock Farm were a song, and each family member improvised on a different instrument, then the weekends would sound like the chorus. Cecil Bell raises beef and tobacco, his son John raises vegetables, his son-in-law Mac Stone works off the farm and raises organic livestock with Cecil’s daughter Ann, who additionally markets the […]
Apple Crisp Cooperative
A “Core” Effort Southeast Minnesota is a countryside dotted with picturesque apple orchards, a development led nearly a century ago by the University of Minnesota. Partly due to the Mississippi River and partly due to landscape conditions created in the last glacial age, climate and soil conditions are unique to the area and ideal for […]