(intro music) - Hello, and welcome to Farm Connections.

I'm your host Dan Hoffman.

On today's episode, we visited celebrity chef and farm to table pioneer, Ariane Daguin, and discussed conscientious food production and her company D'Artagnan.

We traveled to Kasson to meet with the Spinler family and learn about micro-greens, And the University of Minnesota Extension all here today, on Farm Connections.

(capturing music) - [Narrator] Welcome to Farm Connections, with your host, Dan Hoffman.

- [Woman] Farm Connections is made possible in part by - [Narrator] Absolute Energy.

A locally owned facility, producing 125 million gallons of ethanol annually, proudly supporting local economies in Iowa and Minnesota.

Absolute Energy, adding value to the neighborhood.

Minnesota Corn Growers Association, working to identify and promote opportunities for corn growers, enhance quality of life and help others understand the value and importance of corn production to America's economy.

EDP Renewables, North America, owner operator of Prairie Star and Pioneer Prairie, Wind Farms, Minnesota and Iowa.

EDPR Wind Farms and solar parks, provide income to farmers and help power rural economies across the continent.

- Welcome to Farm Connections.

We're so thrilled to have a special guest with us today.

Her name is Ariane Daguin.

Ariane, you had a wonderful event at your farm and your business.

Tell us a little bit about that.

- Yes, we, I own a company called D'Artagnan.

We're 35 years old and finally last year just before COVID we decided to create a foundation to really put the point across of what the company D'Artagnan, has been trained to do from the last 35 years, which is to explain and educate the people through the chefs and the cooks that there is a good way to raise animals the right way so that we regenerate the air.

And so that it doesn't do any harm and it's not stressful to the animal, is respectful to the animal and that will bring the best meat possible on the plate.

So that has been our mission all along cause right now just a little farm stand, but it's going to evolve into a restaurant and workshops at the farm in Goshen, New York called the "All for One, One for All Farm", you know, the motto of the Musketeers and D'Artagnan was the first musketeer.

If you've seen the movie, or if you read the book of Alexandre Dumas, "The Three Musketeers."

And so in that farm, we are basically, it's a small, it's 14 acres, but we are basically following principles of agriculture trying to maximize the yield of cultivation, trying to maximize the yield of cultivation, whether it's gardens in between rows and rows of trees, whether there for the trees or fruit trees, and then having cover crops in between and raising animals on their rotational pasture.

First, the mammals, the big ones, then the middle ones, then the poultry.

And that actually makes all the manure disperse itself.

And it encourages the worms, and it encourages the carbon capturing of the soil.

And it also encourages the soil to keep the water there, instead of having those runoffs that causes so many polluting effects right now in America, in the world, polluting effects right now in America, in the world - Well, we're certainly glad to have you on the show.

We're sad that Martha Stewart and the Food Network got to you first.

- Only occasionally, only occasionally.

I have a full-time job.

- And the New York Times is of course asking you for an interview as well.

So thank you so much.

What drives the passion that you show?

- I don't know.

I think it's seven generations behind me in the food business.

And again, in Gascony we're all in the food business, Or in the wine business or Brandy or farming or of mushroom gathering.

It's a very rural area.

My father and my grandfather had the hotel restaurant with two Michelin stars in Auch and Auch is the capital of Gascony but it's still a very small town.

It's 25,000 inhabitants.

And so that small hotel was 57 rooms.

And so that small hotel was 57 rooms.

And that restaurant, that small restaurant with my brother and my little sister, we were expected to help any which way, you know, after home work, or during vacation, or weekends, because it was a small family business.

And I think when you have seven generations behind in that culture and you're supposed to help also, I guess it makes you really engrained in the fact that I guess it makes you really engrained in the fact that in the world, the most important thing in the world is food.

And the second most important is love.

And so you can show your love with food, you know, and that's what hospitality business is all about.

And that's what I learned very young, that when you are in the hospitality business, you're there to make people happy, to be hospitable when they are in your, in your space, in your restaurant or in your farm or on your wherever even in your cafeteria here at D'Artagnan, your responsibility is to make them happy for the next two hours or whatever time they're going to spend at your place.

And if they come out happy, you succeeded.

And this is, that's your job.

That's what successful chefs are all about.

They are about, of course you have to run a profitable company, but really that company is the business of making people happy.

- Well, certainly well fed people lead to love and peace, and we've got plenty of illustrations of that happening in a good way.

We have illustrations and history of it where it didn't work so well.

So you have very important work.

Very much.

You've been at it for about 35 years in terms of your business, current business?

- Yeah, yeah.

we're entering the 36 years right now.

Yep.

- And during that time, one of the things that you've tried to do is help independent farmers.

How have you tried to help them?

- They are the only ones who understand what we're all about.

We want meat proteins from animals We want meat proteins from animals that were well raised with respect.

And so you cannot do that with factory farming.

It has to be, there has to be a mutual respect between the person who's going to raise those animals and the animals.

It's sometimes I compare it, and you're going to think I'm totally crazy.

But sometimes I compare it to an unwritten contract.

You know, you're an animal, I'm the farmer.

I'm going to take care of you, feed you, make sure there is no predator who's gonna threaten you, or kill you.

Even in winter, even in, in the heat of the summer, I'm going to make your life comfortable.

But at the end, one day, I'm going to eat you.

That's part of the contract, you know, a good life, but at the end we kill you.

That's the, I think, that's the food chain that has to be, that has been for since the world started.

And we have to be true to that chain.

And we have to be true to that chain.

You know, we cannot treat animals like widgets.

That's the worst thing that can happen.

Not only to that particular farm, but also to our way of thinking and our style of life.

but also to our way of thinking and our style of life.

- Thank you.

And you are working on more aquatics or fish kind of production at this time?

- So yes, we just launched a seafood line and you must think, you know, after 36 years, finally, you're going to another protein.

Yeah.

Well it took us that long, just because it's a very different animal.

And I wasn't that familiar with it to begin with.

And we did a lot of homework before getting into it.

And so we really have all And so we really have all the boxes marked, you know, we're getting fish only from certified fishermen we're getting fish only from certified fishermen who have their own boat and are doing things the right way, sustainably, are not fishing over-fished species.

And are under very strict organizations that are watching very carefully what's happening out there.

So we do, we went the easy way.

Only on the e-commerce only for consumers.

We are not selling that line to restaurateurs.

And so we have product that are very convenient for consumers.

It's all IQF frozen you know, flash frozen.

Most of the time on the boat itself and portion control.

So all the home cook has to do is to slowly thaw out in the refrigerator overnight, is to slowly thaw out in the refrigerator overnight, the steak pieces of the fish, and then season them and then put them in the pan.

You don't need to take the bones out.

You don't need to cut.

You don't need to take the skin out.

You know, it's all ready for you.

So it's very convenient.

The quality is there and it's fresh, it's done fresh because it's been flash-frozen as soon as it's been taken out of the sea.

but for us, it was a big learning experience.

We specialize in fresh meats.

So we had to learn how to ship frozen goods.

I mean, it was a whole new, a whole new line, very, very big changes for us.

It doesn't sound very innovative from afar from where you are in Minnesota, but for us, going from meat to fish was a big thing.

- Well, you certainly are a person that enjoys taking on a challenge.

What advice do you have for food entrepreneurs or people that are trying to develop a product or a company?

- I think the main advice I don't want to sound like a grandma who is giving, but I think the big, big thing, is to be stubborn.

Somewhere you have to have a little level of stubbornness to be able to go through the whole thing.

And I remember 36 years ago, we didn't have any money.

And that $15,000 is all the savings that were there between calling the friends and the family, and opening the drawer, then finding all the money that we could.

Today, it might be a little easier with also those crop funding systems that didn't exist then.

But still, when you have a good idea and a good business plan, and you put this together and you know in your heart that this is what's going to work, this is your vision, stick with it.

You know, don't start, don't start believing people who are telling you.

"Yeah.

But, you know," tweaking this way, or "no, it's never going to work."

You should do that instead."

No, you have this vision for a reason because you, you know, you've thought about it more than anybody else in the world, stick with it, be stubborn, and don't take no for an answer.

At the beginning, you're going to have a lot of obstacles in front of you, and you're not going to be able to overcome those obstacles if you don't believe in yourself.

You have to really be stubborn.

And yes, it's going to work.

- Super advice.

Thanks for joining us.

Stay tuned for more, on Farm Collections.

- [Narrator] Farm Connections, Best Practices brought to you by... - I'm Ryan Miller.

And this is today's Best Practices segment.

We're going to talk a little bit about soybean herbicide selections when we get into late June and early July - things to consider.

So by this point in the season, we've often got our plan in place.

We always have our plan in place as far as herbicide selection, but sometimes we need to make changes based on hoops we've had to jump through or loops we've been thrown.

And so it's important to kind of reconsider our initial plan when we get to this point in the season.

So for example, if we have glyphosate-resistant waterhemp, we may have chosen a Dicamba-tolerant soybean, or an Enlist soybean, or perhaps a Liberty Link soybean.

And so then that's going to really kind of dictate what post-emergent chemistries we're going to be able to use, in terms of managing a merged weed.

So some things then that have to be considered as we get later into the calendar year, even though we've made these choices and plans, one thing that I think about is this drop dead date for Dicamba applications over the top of soybeans, that's currently June 30th.

And so after that date, we've got really change direction with our program.

And so that's one of the first major considerations.

So other things to think about are other issues.

One example would be rotational restrictions.

So fomesophen is a common ingredient in a number of different herbicide products that are marketed to the farm community.

It's very popular, but as we get into later July or late, but as we get into later June and early July, what we have to be concerned with this particular product or ingredient I should say is that it does have some carry-over restrictions.

So oftentimes we follow our soybean crop with a corn crop, and there is a 10 month rotational restriction.

So something to think about if we don't want to injure that future crop to be cutting that application off, once we're within 10 months of planting our corn, so something to think about this time of year.

A couple of products where we can kind of switch directions, if that was our initial plan, Acifluorfen and lactofen are two active ingredients.

Again, marketed in a number of different products out there, but they are both options that have a much reduced or no rotational restrictions for the crops that we're growing in Minnesota.

Finally, the thing to consider when we look at the field out here today, and thinking about making a post emergence herbicide application, we've got ways to go before the crop canopy is gonna close and shade out the soil and prevent some of those weeds from emerging that might be emerging late in the season.

Good example, again, waterhemp emerging late in this season.

So with that post emergence application it's important to consider the use of a layered residual herbicide with that application to kind of carry us through to canopy closure, you know they help prevent weeds from emerging during that time period after we've made that post immersion herbicide application.

Important again to mention here, to look at your label and follow the restrictions, because sometimes there are limitations on what products can be used as a residual with your post emergence herbicides.

So something important again to key in on those labels and pay attention to.

All right.

Well, that was today's Best Practices for late season soybean herbicide selection choices, and I'm Ryan Miller.

Thank you.

- Welcome to Farm Connections.

We're in Kasson, Minnesota with the Spinlers' and with me right now for the first interview is Patrick.

Patrick, welcome to Farm Connections.

- Dan, thank you very nice to meet you.

- Well, thanks for inviting us into your backyard.

It's lovely.

Somebody planted trees.

It's shady.

It's wonderful.

- I wish I could take credit for all the wonderful shade, Dan.

It is gorgeous though.

I agree.

- And you've done some things with it, but what we want to talk about today is what you've done with the farmer's market and specifically, what kinds of products you sell.

- So yeah, we have our own little business, my daughter, Natasha, and I, and it started because Natasha and I were walking through the Rochester Winter's market.

Natasha has celiac disease, and unfortunately there wasn't anything available for her for sale that would have been safe.

Natasha is however, a pretty good cook, a baker.

And so we looked at each other and thought we could do this.

We could sell here.

So we started investigating what that would take, along the way, We also discovered that in particular Rochester market, which is a large market and one we would want to be in is what they call themselves a producers market and requires that you sell at least part what you sell is produced by yourself on a farm.

So we basically started a little micro-urban farm here in our house and backyard.

We grow micro-greens in it, and have hopefully, you know, we'll get some garden produce as well.

- No doubt by now, you've got a company name.

- Spinler Goods and Greens, we call ourselves.

The goods are Natasha's baked stuff, and the greens are our well, our greens.

- Very nice.

You started with the greens and you sold those for one year or more?

- Actually this is our first year that we've done.

So everything, I believe we've made our first sales in March of this year here.

Actually there was just a very tiny little market in Mantra belt.

And we've been in Rochester since they started the summer market in Manterville.

And we're also selling in Austin at the Austin market.

- And really needed.

- I think so we're, as far as I know, we're one of only two or three people who sell anything at all, gluten free at the market.

And yeah, we were getting a number of people coming back now saying, "gosh, you're the only people we can come to and you sell good stuff," and the micro-greens have been going well also there's again, a relatively limited number of people there who sell micro-greens and so that's been a nice product.

So yeah, we're pretty, pretty happy.

- Well, certainly you've described the customer producer relationship and it's two-way, isn't it?

- Absolutely.

- So you've gained something from seeing the customer and visiting with them and them giving you some critiques about your product.

What do they gain from you seeing the producer, the hands that touched the product?

- You know, I think it, again comes down to that relationship.

They know where the product came from.

They know the care we've put into it.

They can ask us, we can explain, you know, this is our procedure.

This is how we keep our kitchen gluten safe.

This is how we grew our micro-greens to be more nutritious or better value or better, you know, or yummier.

We can offer a sample.

You know, we can say here, try this one versus this one, see this one's a little spicy micro-green and this one's, you know, a nice sweet micro green.

And just to get that feedback directly from that local producer, I think is, well, when we visit the market, that's what we do as customers.

So, you know, so to be able to offer that as well.

- Do you ever get any feedback from your customers that say, "we're so happy that the money comes back into our community and gets invested there in more products or with your family."

Do they care?

- I think they do.

I think they do.

A number of our customers, you know, have either were beginning or were before or have begun to be friends.

And I think that being able to see that directly come into supporting us, you know, and feeding back then to them, you know, and that's a lot of what the farmer's market is about.

That's a lot about what the drive to purchase local and find local is about.

And many of the customers at the farmer's market, that's why they're there.

And they're there to support the local farmers, support the local agriculture, support the local producers.

So yes, I believe very much so.

- Natasha.

- Yeah.

- Thanks for having us at your back yard.

We're here to talk about the baking and the work you do in the farmer's market.

Can you tell us about that?

- So we run a farmer's market stall, both in Rochester and at Austin, and we do gluten-free baked goods and micro-greens.

I'm primarily the baker, but I do help with the micro-greens every now and then.

- So what caused you to do this?

It's a lot of work.

- I mean, yeah, but it's also a lot of fun.

It, well, I've been, was diagnosed with celiac disease in early high school.

Right?

And so I've been figuring out how to live with that most of my life.

- Can you tell us a little more about the diagnosis of celiac disease and what it actually is?

- So, celiac disease is a, your small intestine becomes unable to digest gluten, the gluten protein and wheat, barley, and rye.

It attacks itself.

And there's a whole bunch of nasty stuff with that, which I'm not going to describe on camera because gross.

And one of the other common symptoms though, is like exhaustion and like low iron levels in your blood.

And so early high school, my parents picked up that I was like way tired, more tired than normal and got diagnosed and kind of lucky timing cause I had just started baking around that age.

I'd done a little bit of experimenting before, may or may not have killed a pan.

And so I got diagnosed and started poking it, how to do gluten-free baking.

- So I'm sure you like to sell fresh products at the farmer's market, but how long before the farmer's market does it take for you to get started?

- So the cookies normally get baked on either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending upon everyone else's schedule.

Scones, get baked Thursday and the muffins get baked Friday the day before.

- Well, what's the future of the company?

You have some plans I'm sure of it.

- Well, ideally, we'd start to expand.

We've been thinking about selling micro-greens to like local restaurants or grocery stores, right?

Cause that'd be really cool in a nice stable market.

It's going to be a while before we can expand more for the baking though I am working on several experimental recipes right now.

Like the next product to come out is going to be an updated and better version of the muffins.

And after that I'm thinking some hazelnut brownies to be a really nice treat.

- Let's fast forward and say you're at the farmer's market.

What advice do you have to customers when they approach a vendor at a farmer's market?

- For getting gluten-free stuff, talking to the producer, talking to who makes it asking where they source their ingredients, right?

A really common ingredient in like most gluten-free baked products is either rice flour or like oatmeal or oat flour.

And you have to be super careful with oat flour, right?

Most oats are grown like right next to wheat and anything grown like that is not going to be safe.

So read the ingredient lists.

Ask is this made in gluten-free facility?

Ask about where they source their ingredients from, you know, what safety precautions they do, stuff like that.

I myself bake everything in a completely gluten-free kitchen, just on principle, but really talk to people who make the product.

They know the most about whether it's safe or not.

- Thank you so much for sharing with Farm Connections today.

- Of course.

- Stay tuned for more, on Farm Connections.

Turning tradition on a Ted and taking the time to look at old habits from new perspectives, helps us to innovate and cultivate fresh ideas.

As we learn to make new from the old, we take our knowledge of the past and shape our future.

I'm Dan Hoffman.

Thanks for joining us, on Farm Connections.