Farmers Seize Innovation Opportunities

Prices for most ag products are linked to world markets, but Minnesota farmers say it’s possible to take advantage of market niches.

Long before businessman Dean Phillips became a congressman, he was sitting in Carolyn Olson’s farm home near Cottonwood, Minnesota, in 2008.

Olson, co-owner of Olson Organics and a self-described outgoing person, was talking with Phillips about her farming operation that’s located 140 miles southwest of Minneapolis.

“Like a good Lutheran, I made a Bundt cake,” Olson recalled Monday during a panel discussion at a Food Ag Ideas Week event in St. Paul. Over cake and conversation, she and Phillips made a connection. It led to Olson selling some of her grain that’s used in vodka production for Phillips Distilling Co.

View the complete October 14 article by Liz Fedor on The Twin Cities Business website here.