Local farms need local support

On one of the first hot days of the year, Andrew and Margo Hanson-Pierre sat on the deck overlooking their farm, listening to the birds chirp.

"The soundtrack's amazing," Andrew said.

The Hannon-Pierres rent the land for their Clover Bee organic produce farm near River Falls, and share the acreage with two other farms. They're not the only ones in the area. The two can rattle off a list of others just up and down the road, not to mention those in the wider region.

"In these 10 miles, you can come up with a whole dinner," Margo said.

She wishes people would.

"You've got to eat the view," she said.

Small local farms like the Hannon-Pierres' and Mike and Jody Lenz's Threshing Table Farm in New Richmond rely on local support.

"It definitely depends on local people saying, 'This is important to me. I want to know my farmer. I want to know where my food comes from,'" Jody said. "And putting their money where their mouth is and supporting us that way."

For the Borner Farm Project in Prescott, the farm would not exist without local support. Diane Webster started the farm nine years ago as a community project to not only grow food, but bring people together.

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