The Larsons

The Larson farm began operating in 1874 in Evansville, about 20 miles northwest of Alexandria. Today, Jeffrey Larson and his wife Karen are the sixth generation to farm the land, growing a rotation of corn and soybeans.

Longevity isn’t the only area where the Larsons are sustainability standouts. They’ve worked with the Natural Resource & Conservation Service to build and maintain about 50 sediment control basins to prevent soil and fertilizer runoff. They also practice minimum tillage and take active steps to promote conservation efforts – theirs and other Minnesota farmers. Karen recently attended an AgChat seminar and spends time on social media talking about food and farming.

“Those of us in agriculture are active environmentalists, as compared to environmental activists,” Jeffrey said. “We need to protect the land every single day because we want to leave it in better shape than when we started.”