The Daily Circuit

MPR News series tackles food entrepreneurship

by Tom Weber, Minnesota Public Radio

10:52 AM, March 2, 2012

LISTEN

This week, MPR News has been reporting on the health of Minnesota's entrepreneurial businesses. As a lot of communities shift their economic development strategies to encourage entrepreneurism, the series is looking at the best ways to encourage it at high enough levels to make a difference.

One of the 'One Job at a Time' stories by Jennifer Vogel looked specifically at people going into food businesses. Not just starting restaurants, but also taking a product idea and making a business around it. She profiled the Agricultural Utilization Research Institute in Crookston, which was created by the Legislature in the 1980s to try to link Minnesota-grown products with business ventures.

Joanne Berkenkamp at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis does a lot of work with local sustainability and other food matters. She spoke with The Daily Circuit about what kind of person becomes a food entrepreneur.

comments powered by Disqus
Listen Now

MPR News Radio

Hourly Newscast

The Daily Circuit Blog

Economy, Business & Jobs:

Op-ed pick: The Senate’s guest worker program will provide a flexible workforce

"The size of the guest-worker program is designed to adjust automatically in response to changing U.S. labor needs, growing in good years when the economy needs more foreign workers and shrinking when more Americans are out of work."

News & Trends:

3 things to buy at the farmers market this weekend

After we taped the Friday Roundtable, I asked the panelists what we should pick up at the farmer’s market this weekend. Stephanie Meyer recommends morels. Amy Thielen says to buy dandelion greens if you can find them. Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl’s a fan of rhubarb: Here’s what you can do with rhubarb. I like to cook…