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.