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South Dakota farmer gives back to families in need

October 18, 2019

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2 minute read

Boadwine Farms in Baltic, South Dakota, a century-old family farm, regularly opens their doors to not only share their dairy farm story, but also to give back to local families in need. Every other year, the family hosts an open house that attracts thousands of visitors, providing them an opportunity to experience how dairy foods travel from farm to fridge and see firsthand how the Boadwine family farm produces safe, nutritious milk while taking care of their cows and the environment. Along with each farm tour, they offer a free meal where donations are collected for Feeding South Dakota. In 2018, they raised $3,600 for the local food shelf.

“As a dairy farmer, I know that dairy foods are packed with nutrition.  By opening our doors to the community and collecting small donations, we are able to give back in a way that ensures that more South Dakota families have access to healthy foods, including milk and dairy foods. Opening our farm to our neighbors also helps them understand how we care for our animals and shows our ongoing efforts to continuously improve.”

Dairy farmer Lynn Boadwine consistently demonstrates his strong passion for giving back, serving on many boards at the local, state and national levels, including the Land O’ Lakes Corporate board. In September, Land O’ Lakes, Inc. donated an entire semi load of their macaroni and cheese, nearly 40,000 pounds or more than 250,000 servings, to Feeding South Dakota. This donation is part of Land O’Lakes First Run Program established in 2010 with the goal of donating truckloads of fresh product made specifically for food banks throughout the year to alleviate hunger across the United States. Boadwine talks about the cooperative’s commitment to the program in an interview with KSFY news, “We’re a farmer owned co-op, so feeding people is very important to us and farmers just traditionally have big hearts—and so that’s what we’re really doing.”

More than five million pounds of product have been donated through the Land O’Lakes program to date.

*Photos featured in this article were taken prior to March 2020 before mandatory mask/social distancing mandates were implemented.