That time of year for the Hungry for Truth Farm-to-Fork dinner again! I really look forward to this event every year (it was the 3rd annual!) and this year surely blew me away again! It’s a spectacularly beautiful event filled with engaging conversations and mouth-watering food.
Hungry for Truth is an initiative from South Dakota Soybean Research & Promotion Council designed to open conversations about food between South Dakotan consumers and the farmers who passionately grow it. Their goal for this event is to have open, honest conversations about how our food is raised and its safety and to provide a night where farmers and consumers get to meet and discuss anything and everything about farming, produce, and food safety. Truly a unique experience getting to know the farmers who feed us!
This year’s event was held at the gorgeous Meadow Barn right outside of Sioux Falls. It has the perfect indoor and outdoor flow and was great for the hot windy weather we had! The Event Company designed the space and the combination of eucalyptus and florals were GOOOORGEOUS!
The night began with a outdoor social hour filled with an array of cold Fernson beer and Prairie Berry wines with a huge delicious display of meats and cheeses from local farmers. This year, Hungry for Truth really stepped up their information cards to dive even deeper in letting us consumers know more about our farmers and their food! I loved to read about where the meats and cheeses came from and how the cheese on our pizza comes from local farmers!
The conversations continued inside after the social hour where we were sat at lovely tables filled with gorgeous eucalyptus, florals, and the most beautiful table settings. There were two farmers at each table and I got to sit right next to one!
We had the pleasure of meeting Charlotte and Steve Rommereim, they are farmers in southeastern South Dakota near Alcester where they raise over 5000 pigs (WOW!!!!!) along with corn and soybeans. Steve serves as the 2018-2019 president of the National Pork Board and has also been president of both the SD Pork Producers Council and Agriculture United for South Dakota.
Charlotte (get to know her here!) is a consultant dietician to health care facilities in southeastern SD and northwestern Iowa. She has served as the Agriculture subgroup chair on the executive committee for the Food and Culinary Professionals Dietetic Practice Group of the Pork Board’s Pork Safety, Quality, and Human Nutrition committee.
Together, they are fifth generation farmers on their farm (it was Charlotte’s parents) and have two daughters who are both farming with their husbands and are in line to take over the farm that has been around since 1874! Wow! Steve thinks it’s the second oldest farm in South Dakota! AMAZING!!
It was so interesting conversing with them about how their farm is different from generation to generation, day to day chores on the farm, where their pork and crops go once it leaves the farm, hormones and antibiotic use, GMO and non-GMO (read more about that here!!!), how to read and understand a food label (watch this video about Charlotte’s advice!) and what it’s like to raise over 5000 pigs! I love the conversations with them and I always feel so much more knowledgeable about where my food comes from after the event. I feel so lucky getting to talk DIRECTLY to the farmers who grow and tend to the food that we eat every day! Pretty amazing!
Another neat thing about the event, is that ALL of the food comes from the farmers that are at the event! My favorite is the bacon supplied by the Greenway farm. I love Peggy!!! Read about her and her farm here and how she takes care of the animals on her farm here. The bacon is a topping on the South Dakota State ice cream and it is SOOOO GOOD! Extra bacon for me please! :)
Overall, my biggest takeaway from the event is how passionate these farmers are about their food and making sure it’s perfect for us. I’ll never forget a farmer once said, “We have to feed our own families this food too, so we want it to be perfect for them just as much as we want it to be perfect for all of you.” I love that perspective, because as much as you want to do exactly what is right for your family, there is a farmer wanting to provide that exact same thing for his/her family. I trust our food sources so much more after this event and by understanding how much work goes into the one piece of pork or meat I eat at night, I savor it all and thank the farmers for their hard work, passion, and dedication to feeing this ever-hungry world!
Another fabulous event and new knowledge flourishing! Thank you Hungry for Truth and all the farmers that take their time to educate us! We appreciate you and everything you do! THANK YOU!
With Sarah Tveidt – in charge of the Hungry for Truth initiative and also works as the communications director for the South Dakota Soybean Council. One amazing woman! And also a blogger at DakotaChic! Follow her!!!! :) Thank you Sarah for this opportunity!!! xo