The Country Butcher Shop owner, Joel Sonnek, shares information on how he operates his business. The MBFFA Food and Ag Tour also included stops at Blue Earth Stockyards and St. Germaine Simmentals.

The MBFFA (Mainstreet Businesses Focused on Food and Agriculture) Food and Ag Tour was held on Aug. 5 and featured tours at the Blue Earth Stockyards, The Country Butcher Shop in Easton and St. Germaine Simmentals of Winnebago.

Dan and Leah Owens, owners of Blue Earth Stockyards, told tour participants they had purchased the former Arends Sale Yard which had been in the Arends family for 75 years.

The couple, along with their five children, are the main workers at their business. They also shared how their operation functions and gave a tour of the facility. They explained how their main goal is to make sure their customers get the best price for their product, whether it be livestock or hay.

Country Butcher Shop owner Joel Sonnek told the group how his father, Arnie, originally began the butcher operation with Scott Radke after Ray’s Grocery in Minnesota Lake ceased their butchering operation.

“That was in 1989 and we had a butcher shop out on our farm,” Sonnek said. “After my father died I eventually purchased the business from my mother around 2014 before moving the operation into Easton in 2019.”

Sonnek recalled thinking when he moved to town that he had built his facility so that it was plenty big enough.

“It could have been bigger,” he noted. “But it works well for what we do.”

“Everything sold over the counter is USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) inspected,” Sonnek commented. “We do all of our butchering on the farms where the animals are located.”

The Country Butcher Shop is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and Saturday morning from 8 a.m. to noon.

St. Germaine Simmentals, owned by Adam and Theresa St. Germaine, is located south and west of Winnebago.

Adam, who is originally from Illinois, and Theresa, a 2010 graduate of Blue Earth Area High School, told the crowd they were first-generation cattle producers.

They shared how they use artificial insemination in their herd and outlined the process they go through in their operation.

Adam and Theresa also provided some background on how they were able get their business up and running along with sharing some of the challenges they face in trying to grow their operation.

Following the tours, the group was bussed back to MTS Farm and Events for a locally sourced meal.

They also heard from Travis M. Thul who is the vice president for Student and Industry Success at Minnesota State-Mankato.

The keynote speaker was Emily Knudsen who is the co-owner and creative visionary behind Pleasant Grove Pizza Farm, a destination wood-fired pizza farm in rural Waseca.

Knudsen explained how she and her husband, Bill Bartz, transformed a quiet prairie property into one of the Midwest’s most beloved agri-tourism destinations, where handcrafted pizza, live music, local partnerships and meaningful gatherings come together under Minnesota skies.

MBFFA is a regional collaborative program based in southern Minnesota. It provides targeted support, counseling, and technical assistance to small businesses and entrepreneurs in the food and ag sectors. It is operated through the Strategic Partnership Center at Minnesota State University – Mankato.