Between the whims of Mother Nature and below-average commodity prices coupled with ever-rising input costs, there’s plenty to keep central Minnesota potato grower Brett Edling up at night. “We are constantly faced with many challenges,” he said.
But Edling, who farms with his brothers, Jeff and Mark, and father, Jerome, knows he’s been blessed. Each Thanksgiving, his family shares some of their bounty with those less fortunate.
On Nov. 12, about 36,000 pounds of potatoes donated by Edling Farms near Clear Lake, Minn., were trucked to the Union Gospel Mission Twin Cities’ Men’s Campus in downtown St. Paul.
At the mission, potatoes were packaged along with all the other fixings needed for a traditional Thanksgiving meal, including a frozen turkey; canned vegetables and cranberries; and stuffing, gravy and dessert mixes, into grocery bags that help feed about 60,000 people on the holiday.
This is believed to be the largest Thanksgiving food effort in Minnesota.
