Farmers market merchants and wine and grape producers held a joint session at the N.D. Farmers Market and Growers Association and Local Foods Conference. Discussion leaders for this session included, from left: Bonnie Munsch, vegetable grower/farmers market merchant, Bismarck; Mark Vining, Rookery Rock Winery, Wheatland; and Greg Cook, 4e Winery, Casselton.  (PHOTO BY NDAREC/NORTH DAKOTA LIVING)

“We want North Dakota vegetables on every plate in the state, and we’d like them to drink our local wines, too,” says Hero Barth, Bismarck. Barth is president of the NDFMGA board of directors. He and his family own and operate Farm Fresh Gardens, five miles east of Bismarck, which is served by Capital Electric Cooperative.

The additional emphasis on local wines at NDFMGA annual meeting was intentional, as the North Dakota Grape and Wine Association (NDGWA) chose to hold its annual meeting to coincide and co-locate with the NDFMGA meeting.