Sustainability & Stewardship
Fresh Produce For Today — Better Environment For Tomorrow.
Take a 60 second trip to the sandy soils of Alsum Farms in Arena, Wis., to experience how we grow, nurture and harvest potatoes that make their way to your dinner table using the Wisconsin Healthy Grown® Program that guides our farm sustainability practices.
Our Sustainability Commitments
Caring For the Land
It’s a commitment of two generations strong built on farming roots dedicated to taking care of the fertile soils that produces a naturally good-for-you plant-based food — potatoes. That’s why we focus on water, energy, and soil conservation in our farming techniques.
Prairie Restoration & Pollination
Alsum Farms has nearly 50 acres dedicated to prairie restoration and pollinator habitat to cultivate a sustainably grown food supply. We are improving and continuously expanding our pollinator and prairie habitats on our farmland.
Feeding the Hungry & Reducing Food Waste
We believe every person deserves good nutrition. That’s why Alsum Farms & Produce has donated more than 6 million pounds and counting of potatoes to Second Harvest Foodbank since 2000 along with other regional food pantries. Alsum is dedicated to providing nutritious potatoes to Americans to help reduce food waste and eliminate hunger.
Providing meals to people facing hunger is about more than food. It’s about providing wellness, nourishment, and strength. That’s why Feeding America provides the most nutritious food possible to improve people’s health and well-being. We are proud that 71% of the food the Feeding America network distributes promotes good health. As a significant source for Second Harvest Heartland and other Feeding America member food banks, Alsum Farms & Produce helps provide nourishing food to our neighbors in need. We appreciate Alsum’s high-quality produce and wonderful customer service. It is a pleasure to work with the caring and generous folks at Alsum Farms & Produce.
–Heidi Coe, Second Harvest Heartland (Feeding America member food bank), Brooklyn Park MN, Produce Sourcing Representative
Our Sustainability Results
GAP Audit
We scored 99% in our Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) audit
Waste Reduction
We have zero waste of potatoes at our packing facility
Efficiencies
We grow three times as many potatoes as we did 25 years ago using less land, energy, water, and fewer emissions per acre grown
Wisconsin Healthy Grown® Certified Potatoes
This eco-friendly program has guided our farm sustainability practices for the last 25 years using Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to efficiently manage inputs, implement conservation practices that enhance biological diversity, and ecosystem efforts by certifying under the Healthy Grown® standards.
- In 1992 we began farming and by 1996 Alsum Farms helped establish the Wisconsin Healthy Grown® Program.
- As a founding member of the Healthy Grown® Program, Alsum Farms utilizes the Healthy Grown Program’s regenerative agriculture approach to farming that works to strengthen ecosystems and community resilience.
We know what it means to be responsible. And we can prove it.
Each year Alsum Farms & Produce is audited and certified on an annual basis by Primus GFS to ensure that we are taking care of the environment, people and products we are responsible for.
We do business by:
- Conserving and restoring the Wisconsin acreage we are privileged to farm and protecting the surrounding wildlife and ecosystems.
- Partnering with growers and suppliers committed to sustainability.
- Providing consumers with safe, fresh, quality Wisconsin potatoes, onions, fruits and vegetables.
- Ensuring our employees have a safe business environment to work in, one that rewards them for their commitment and encourages them to advance.
- Being a company that “pays it forward” — helping others in our community and inspiring other to do the same.
