Minnesota Grown directory seeks new members

The Minnesota Grown directory lists more than 1,000 local farms and food producers — who sell everything from bison meat to wine to tomatoes.

The directory has been around since the 1980s, when the state Department of Agriculture would print 60,000 copies a year. Next year, Minnesota Grown expects to print 155,000 copies of the directory.

"Even with the boom of technology in the digital age, people still love that physical version of the directory to sit on their coffee table and to live in their glove compartment so that whenever they're traveling they can reference it and find local farms and foods," said Karen Lanthier, member services coordinator for Minnesota Grown.

And with the local food movement continuing to expand in the state, there are many producers who don't yet appear in the book. That includes A+ Organics, a company that grows microgreens indoors in the winter and fresh produce in the summer at its farm in New Germany, Minn., west of the Twin Cities.

Owner Josh Groenke was selling microgreens — radish, green pea, broccoli and kale — at St. Paul's Union Depot during a winter farmers market earlier this month. He's only been in business for a year.

"The markets are going great," he said. "I have clientele that follow me around from market to market. People seem to be in love with the greens."

Groenke said he plans to become a Minnesota Grown member soon to help market his business, which he hopes to expand.

And he's only got a few days left. Lanthier said new members who want to appear in the printed version of the directory should apply by Dec. 31, though the online version is being updated constantly.

That online version now has a feature with road-trippers in mind, Lanthier said. It lets people map their drives, with stops along the way — within 10 miles of their route — for local food.