“Were helping out the community, we got over 100 CSA members and a lot of their kids work here. We’re doing potato trials for the U of M. We teach kids to grow competitively at the state fair level,” said Butch Cardinal.
The Cardinal family moved to Minnesota from Canada in 1866, just a couple of years after Minnesota became a state. The Cardinal family has been on this land for 156 years and spans across six generations of Cardinals, the Minnesota Farm Bureau recognized the farm as a historic sesquicentennial farm – one of the oldest in the area.
When Butch took control of the farm in 2010, he decided it was time to change the farm and turned the conventional farm into an organics farm. The Cardinal farm which has struggled before continued to struggle as the farm went through the transformation.
“There are a lot of chemicals in our foods and I want to eat them clean. To be certified organic, there can’t be any harmful chemicals for over 36 months. Annual inspectors come in and take samples and go through our products. Gives the public that reliability,” said Butch. “I lose the same if I would be doing it the conventional way. More labor for better products. I think it is a better way and is sustainable.”
Butch believes in supporting local because lots of smaller businesses need the support over larger and more recognizable brands.
“Anybody can support a local farm, whether it’s mine or my neighbors. Support local family farms because the farms need it. Why go to a big box store when you can get it locally. You can’t beat it.”
All Good Organics offers CSA boxes and has a store on sight that is open year round. The CSA boxes can be ordered online at their website or Butch can be reached via their phone number – however they are not taking in new CSA members until next season.
