FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, January 3, 2011

CONTACT:
Margaret Hart, MDA Communications. 651.201.6131
Tom Gahm, Farmer, Lumpe + McClelland, 763.772.8581

New Year, New Sweepstakes from the Farmers Feed US Campaign

Prizes include Gopher basketball tickets and groceries from Cub Foods

St. Paul, Minn. – Free tickets to Minnesota Gopher Men’s Basketball games and free groceries from Cub Foods are up for grabs in a new sweepstakes sponsored by the Minnesota Farmers Feed US campaign.   Farmers Feed US is a consumer education campaign featuring Minnesota farmers showing how they produce safe, nutritious and affordable food.   More than 75,000 Minnesotans registered for the first Farmers Feed US sweepstakes that ended in November and two lucky winners each went home with $5,000 in free groceries.

The new campaign features four University of Minnesota graduates who work in agriculture – including Laura Schulz, a veterinarian from St. Peter; John Gorton, a turkey farmer from Pelican Rapids; Rita Vander Kooi, a dairy farmer from Worthington; and Bryan Lawrence, a cattle farmer from Princeton.

“As farmers become a smaller part of the population, their role in producing food becomes more and more significant,” says Lawrence.  “So it’s imperative, now more than ever, that those of us in the industry show consumers that we are passionate and committed to what we do.”

By visiting the Farmers Feed US website, consumers will meet several Minnesota farmers who provide online   tours of their farms.  They can also register for their choice of grand prize options -- a $500 Cub Foods gift card or a chance to bring 20 people to watch the Gophers-Penn State basketball game from a suite at Williams Arena, Sunday, March 6.

Other prizes are Cub gift cards for $250, $100 and $50, four packs of Gopher tickets for 5 lucky winners, and an official NCAA basketball autographed by Gopher coach, Tubby Smith.

Minnesotans can register for the sweepstakes through February 28 at www.farmersfeedus.org/mn.

Farmers Feed US is sponsored by the following organizations: Gold ‘n Plump, Midwest Dairy Association, Minnesota Beef Council, Minnesota Corn Research and Promotion Council, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Farm Bureau, Minnesota Pork Board, Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council, Minnesota Turkey Research and Promotion Council.

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