Farmers open upscale restaurant

Several North Dakota farmers are taking a step closer to the consumer by opening an upscale restaurant in the Washington D.C. area.

Members of the North Dakota Farmers Union hired a consulting firm to help them develop a plan to get more money for the products they produce. The result will be a new restaurant called Agraria. The high-end restaurant will feature fresh meat, vegetables and specialty crops from the farmer owners located in 25 states.

Although the idea originated in North Dakota, farmers there pooled their resources with other farmers across the country. In fact, 90 percent of the investors are farmers.

In addition to serving farm-fresh foods, the group hopes to “unobtrusively educate” its patrons about the lives of farmers and ranchers. They chose D.C. for their first restaurant’s location for two reasons:

1. Being the hub of government, it never goes out of business.
2. Many people there have a lot of disposable income and are decades removed from the farm.

To read the full article in Newsday, go to: http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-farmers-restaurant,0,316796.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

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