06/16/2011 - Dakota County Tribune Business Weekly

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Gun training goes high tech 7A Body art businesses banned from homes 7A Babies receive royal treatment 36A

AARON VEHLING TAD JOHNSON STACEY ACKERMAN

dakotacountytribune.biz dakotacountytribune.biz

DATE 16, ##, 2011 2009 JUNE

VOLUME 30, NUMBER # VOLUME 32, NUMBER 16

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Produce processing workers grow together

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Showdown over the shutdown may mean the people Gov. Mark Dayton is trying to help will be hurt the most. PHIL 4A KRINKIE FORUM

After years of neglect, the north metro deserves the economic development tool a new Vikings stadium offers. DON 4A HEINZMAN FORUM

Cut Fruit Express president and founder Lawford Baxter initially created the company garden as a hobby, but it quickly turned into a company perk. Gardening comes naturally to Baxter who grew up on a cocoa and coffee farm in Jamaica.

Photo by Jessica Harper

Employee gardens grow alongside Cut Fruit Express in Inver Grove Heights by Jessica Harper DAKOTA COUNTY TRIBUNE

There’s more growing at Cut Fruit Express than profit margins. Employees at the Inver Grove Heights produce processer have grown fruits and vegetables on the company’s property for the past two years. “I thought it was a great way to use the empty property ... and I like to garden,� said Lawford Baxter, Cut Fruit Express president and founder. The 2.5 acre garden started as a hobby for Baxter, but quickly grew into a company perk. Each spring employees can reserve as many of the 36 plots as they wish with one condition — they maintain their gardens. Once they have their plots reserved, employees can grow anything from melons to corn to for+&//: 800%4 "/ 45"$&: "$,&3. "/%3&8 .*--&3

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Local dentist takes issue with points made in story about the f irst class of dental therapists receiving their licenses. DR. LLOYD 5A WALLIN

Photo by Jessica Harper

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General 952-894-1111 Distribution 952-846-2070 Advertising 952-846-2011

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Cut Fruit Express has grown substantially since its founding 23 years ago. Today it has 60 employees who cut and package produce in a 46,000-squarefoot facility.

See Cut Fruit, Page 35

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eign vegetables. Several employees said the garden has raised morale and enables them to save money and time. This is true for Bee Thoa, who plants vegetables on her small plot. “It’s nice that I don’t have to go to the grocery store as much,� she said. For others, the garden brings them back to their rural roots growing up in a foreign land. Xia Vang, an immigrant from Laos, said through an interpreter that she enjoys the opportunity to grow the same vegetables she raised in her homeland. Vang has the most plots of any employee and spends much of her off-time planting vegetables and weeding her three gardens. Through an interpreter, Reyna Mena, a native of El Salvador, said

Dakota County Technical College knows how to help businesses, like the news industry, succeed in the new economy. LARRY 5A WERNER

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