Welcoming visitors of all ages, Nate and Tracy enjoy being a destination for multigenerational families, fermentation aficionados, or day trippers just looking for a change of scenery — their front porch, also known as the Keepsake Cider Tasting Room, truly is a family-friendly site.

That education piece allows Jessica to be a representative and advocate of agriculture. “I especially want people to know that each cut of beef, each pound of hamburger is a long time in the making.” Your hamburger patty starts with the soil. The better the soil conditions, the more nutritionally dense the corn, grasses, and hay that feed the cattle. 

Bridget O’Boyle wants to nourish the world, one soothing bowl of soup at a time, through her Minneapolis small business Oh Soup! and as a partner chef with eQuality.

North Circle Seeds Farm in Vergas, Minnesota cultivates dozens of organic seeds for gardens and farms throughout the upper Midwest. Led by Zachary Paige, North Circle Seeds (NCS) commits daily to creating an ecologically diverse, equitable, and inclusive food system. “We are a small company focused on adapting seeds to our area and stewarding different varieties that other companies don’t carry,” states Rachael Roisum, a longtime volunteer at the farm. 

Minnesota’s people are what make this state an amazing place to be.  Minnesota’s people have built and celebrate strong community ties.  Diversity is a virtue, an asset that makes the way we live richer. 

Few people think of vanilla as an agricultural product. “For a lot of consumers, vanilla is simply a bottle that they take off the shelf,” explains Sara. “When I first did sampling at local co-ops, I was surprised by how many shoppers had never thought about the origin of their vanilla. They never thought about where it came from, how we make it and why that matters. Few people realize that there’s a seasonality to vanilla. The international market opens at a specific time. The fruit is not always available.”