Sustainable agriculture is a central part of the identity of the Northfield area. The food served at St. Olaf embraces this thriving community of sustainable farming, which is in part why at least 20% of all food served at St. Olaf is sourced from small local farms all year round.
Farm to Fork – Fresh and Local Food
Farm to Fork is an initiative that Bon Appétit adopted in 1999 which prioritizes buying fresh ingredients from local small farms. All local farms that Bon Appétit sources from are within 150 miles of campus, which helps to support family farms while also decreasing transportation emissions. To learn more about the other small farms that provide our delicious food, visit Bon Appétit’s Farm to Fork map.
Almost all dairy products used in the St. Olaf dining areas come from Country View Dairy, a small family-owned dairy farm. Learn More
Ferndale Market is a family-owned farm that raises free-range and antibiotic-free turkeys. St. Olaf purchases most of its turkey from the owners of Ferndale Market, John and Dick Peterson. Learn More
Fireside Orchard, located just off of Highway 19 between 35W and St. Olaf, provides fresh apples and apple cider for the campus. Learn More
Fischer Family Farms is a fifth-generation family-owned pork farm, and is the main pork provider for St. Olaf. Their products are all hormone free and growth-stimulant free, and the livestock are raised humanely. Learn More
Most of the lettuce in the Stav Hall Cafeteria and the Cage is purchased from Living Greens Farm, an innovative aeroponics farm that grows fresh lettuce in the Midwest year-round.
Their indoor farming system allows them to grow high quality greens with significantly less water and land use than traditional industrial agriculture. Learn More
Red Lakes Incorporated provides wild rice to the St. Olaf cafeteria. This company is run by the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians and is part of a larger effort to bring economic stability to the Red Lake Nation. Learn More
STOGROW + Stav
STOGROW, the one-acre farm run by St. Olaf students every summer, works closely with Bon Appétit and sells all of their produce directly to the college cafeteria, including everything from cucumbers to berries to garlic. The cafeteria and the Cage then incorporate STOGROW ingredients into the menu as the produce becomes ready to eat. Students are often eating fresh food grown by their peers.
Look out for the circular Local Garden (LG) symbol on the Stav and Cage menus – when it’s labelled STOGROW, some of the food you’re eating was grown on campus!
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