TAKING THE WHEAT FROM FIELD TO PANTRY By Katie Pinke and Jenny Schlecht | Forum News Service
G
rowing up, the Sproule sisters didn’t necessarily spend a lot of time in the tractors on their family farm in northeastern North Dakota, though they spent some summers working as “gofers” or helping move equipment or bringing meals to the fields. But the farm was always close to their hearts and minds. After time in Minneapolis-St. Paul for college, all three gradually moved back. “I think, when you grow up in North Dakota, you always have a connection to the farm,” said Grace Lunski, 25 and the youngest of the three sisters. Lunski and sisters Annie Gorder, 31, and Mollie Ficocello, 29, now play a variety of integral roles on the farm, not the least of which is a new effort to market crops from “field to pantry.” The sisters recently launched Three Farm Daughters, which takes the GoodWheat variety grown on the farm and transforms it into products like flour and pasta. The company’s tagline, “No fillers, no dyes, no lies,” explains how they want their products to be seen. “These are the attributes and the nutrition that we want to eat and feed our families,” Ficocello said. But even more than that, the sisters see their business
and story as ways to show the picture of modern agriculture and provide consumers the transparency they’re looking for about their food. “This was grown on our field. We put the seed in the field,” Gorder said. “This is what we did to bring it and raise it, and then we brought it to the elevator, the North Dakota Mill, and and we milled it, and now we’re bringing it to your pantry.”
One quarter at a time
Paul Sproule grew up working on his uncle’s farm in northeastern North Dakota, and he built Sproule Farms from scratch. “He started one quarter at a time,” Gorder said. In that time, Sproule wasn’t just raising crops but also his daughters. All three left Grand Forks to attend Bethel University in St. Paul. Gorder focused on finance and real estate, and she got a Master of Business Administration. Today, she and her husband run The Farm Agency, a farm auction agency. After Bethel, Ficocello completed law school at the University of North Dakota. And Lunski focused on human resources, communication and entrepreneurship; she started a cosmetics company at age 19 and also received an MBA. All three brought their skills back to the farm as they married and started their families.
Milking, Feeding, Manure Handling, Parlors, Ventilation, Barn remodeling and additions. On farm delivery of supplies • Schedule maintenance program
Your Total Dairy Resource Center!
Dan & Cheryl - 320-599-4466 - Since 1986 Page 26 – March 2021 – West Central Tribune
