Karen Lanthier

Karen is Minnesota Grown's new Member Services Coordinator. She joined the team with a long-standing love of food and agriculture. Karen grew up on a family farm near Eagle Grove, Iowa that produced corn, soybeans, and raised hogs. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with BS in Nutrition Science and an MS in Science, Technology, and Environmental Public Policy. Previous to working with Minnesota Grown, Karen worked for the University of Minnesota Extension in sustainable agriculture and food systems. In particular, she worked with farmers, food entrepreneurs, and grocers around Minnesota on maintaining fresh produce quality, navigating food regulations, and exploring new markets for locally grown food. In her free time, Karen enjoys traveling, gardening, reading, and cooking.

Tina Cassler

Tina is Minnesota Grown's new Project Specialist. She has a zeal for both marketing and research. To factor in her passion, she earned a master's degree from the University of Minnesota’s Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development (OLPD). Tina possesses a strong social and digital marketing background and is an occasional local food guest author. She believes good food contributes to a healthy lifestyle and enjoys cooking with Minnesota Grown products.

With assistance from Federal-State Marketing Improvement Program (FSMIP), Minnesota Grown is conducting customer surveys for farmers markets across the state. This information can help improve your market's promotional strategies and customer reach, and will provide other helpful feedback. Fill out this Google Form to notify Minnesota Grown of your market's interest by July 7, 2017. Contact Karen at 651-201-6140 or karen.lanthier@state.mn.us for more information.

The Minnesota Grown Facebook page has received over 30,000 likes! On our page, we feature our members with post shares and promote the products within the directory.

This strawberry post reached nearly 29,000 people with 85 shares and 735 likes and reactions. Social media posts offer a great way for Minnesota Grown to help your market or farm reach thousands of eager Minnesotans.

"Follow" Minnesota Grown on to Facebook for up-to-date information and to see how we're promoting locally grown and raised agricultural products through social media.

Minnesotans recognize and trust the Minnesota Grown logo. Our free promotional items make it easy to advertise your product.

These smiling veggie tags are ideal for writing prices per pound for berries or vegetables. Place an order for free smiling veggie tags and other Minnesota Grown promotional items here.

The Minnesota Grown Directory has continued to receive lots of positive feedback from consumers! They are eager to scan the pages for fresh produce, PYO berry farms, and summer farm stays.

A record breaking 1,031 farms and markets are included in this year's directory. We have already distributed over 100,000 copies statewide.

Order a copy of the Minnesota Grown Directory today!

Throughout the year, Minnesota Grown visits conferences, markets, restaurants, and farms to learn from and show support for our members. See what we've been up to in our brand new Minnesota Grown Out and About segment!