MPR News series tackles food entrepreneurship

Agricultural Utilization Research Institute
The Agricultural Utilization Research Institute in Crookson has helped entrepreneurs develop and launch dozens and dozens of food products. Some of those products were photographed in the test kitchen on Monday, Feb. 6, 2012.
Photo by Ann Arbor Miller for MPR

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.

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