Jerry Untiedt, a Wright County Farm Bureau member, didn’t grow up on a farm—but he has fond childhood memories of summer days spent at his grandparents’ acreage in southwestern Minnesota.

“My grandfather planted a seed [in me] that took quite a few years to mature, as far as me realizing that perhaps [farming] was a possibility,” Jerry says. “I didn't receive a lot of encouragement from anybody. It's a hard business to break into when you're neither inheriting it from somebody or having somebody who can financially support you to get started. But I was blessed with a magnificent wife [Susan], who's been with me for 54 years.”

After Susan landed a teaching job in the Howard Lake- Waverly-Winsted School District in 1971, the couple purchased some land near Waverly, which Jerry began to farm—growing specialty crops that he sold at farmers markets. Over time, the endeavor grew.

Today, it’s a family business, which Jerry’s two daughters, Jenna Untiedt and Megan Dallmann; one son-in-law, Paul Nelson; and one grandson, Trent Nelson, are part of. There are also seven other full-time employees, and around 200 seasonal employees. With vegetable stands and garden centers throughout the Twin Cities, as well as a presence at several area farmers markets, they sell seasonal vegetables, fruit and flowers from springtime through the fall. They also wholesale products to Kowalski’s, Jerry’s Foods, select Cub Foods and Mackenthun's Fine Foods. (And if you remember from the Summer 2024 issue of Land & Life, they’re also the sole supplier of sweet corn to the Corn Roast booth at the Minnesota State Fair!) 

To keep up with the growing demand of their loyal customer base, over the past several decades Jerry and his team have expanded beyond the Waverly farm site to an additional growing range in Montrose and other smaller sites in that area. They’ve also implemented techniques to not only help maximize seasonal production but also conserve water, maintain optimal soil health, sustain their farmland and the surrounding areas, and support their employees while they’re at it.

The Bounty at the End of the Tunnel

In the mid-90s, the farm began experimenting with high tunnel agricultural production at their Montrose site. Jerry discovered this technology while visiting farms in Europe and exploring potential ways to extend Minnesota’s growing season. Impressed with the simple approach of what he saw, he brought the idea back to his farm.

“There were many years of trial and error,” says Jenna, marketing manager at Untiedt’s Vegetable Farm. “It took a lot of perseverance and was definitely a different way of thinking when it came to growing, but one we felt was worth our time and effort to understand in great detail.” 

Today, they utilize tunnels on several acres of land, growing within them everything from lettuce, kale, onions and peppers to strawberries, cantaloupe, raspberries, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower and kohlrabi.

These tunnels consist of metal framing and a lightweight polyethylene covering to form an arched tunnel in which crops can be grown in more of a controlled environment while being protected from severe weather—including strong winds, hail and heavy rain.

“We can plant our crops a lot earlier in [the tunnels],” Jerry says. They inherently retain heat, which means plants are ready to go into the ground sooner (about three weeks earlier, on average). The growth and harvest season is extended by about three weeks in the fall as well.

To maximize space, many crops in the tunnels grow vertically, either through trellises or being suspended from the framing with string. But it’s not hydroponic; all the crops are planted in raised beds at the base of the tunnel.

“Everything is tied up, taken very good care of, and we get astronomical yields compared to growing outside,” Jerry says.

A Beneficial Approach

While the produce from Untiedt’s Vegetable Farm isn’t certified organic, they utilize several organic and sustainable farming practices—from how they care for their soil and the surrounding land to weed and pest management.

For soil health, they use considerable amounts of compost, which is derived from on-site manure. Cover crops minimize soil erosion, and soil amendments help with everything from soil pH to water absorption and optimizing nitrogen levels.

Rather than watering with overhead sprayers in the high tunnels, the farm utilizes drip irrigation lines, which waters a very focused area alongside the plants. This not only conserves water but it also helps with weed management.

“You see how few weeds there are in the ground in [the tunnels]. That's because it's a desert in between the rows. It's all sand, no moisture. The drip irrigation only goes right down the middle of the row,” Jerry says. “It's very stewardly in water usage. We're only using probably 25% of the normal gallonage that people use for overhead irrigation.”

The placement of black plastic mulch over the plant beds also helps mitigate weed growth, reducing the need for herbicides.

But, of course, some weeds and pests are inevitable, and there are some circumstances where they find it necessary to use conventional chemicals—including herbicides, fungicides and insecticides. 

One example of this is with their sweet corn and green beans. Untiedt’s doesn’t grow genetically modified (GMO) fruits or vegetables. As such, their corn is more susceptible to worms and other pests, so insecticides are regularly applied to those plants. Their sweet corn and green beans also receive regular herbicide treatments after planting, before the crops emerge, to control weed growth until mechanical cultivation can be used.

Beyond these crops, the farm’s general approach is to only spray when a plant is in jeopardy, and the fungicides they opt to use are organically approved. More often, however, the farm utilizes beneficial insects for pest management rather than chemical insecticides.

“Beneficials are predatory insects that happen to feed on other insects which are problematic to our production in the high tunnels and greenhouses,” Jenna says. “They are used to help control outbreaks of crop-damaging insects such as thrips, spider mites and other issue-causing insects. They are not a cure-all, but they are an efficient means of control with regard to insect pest populations.”

To determine when one treatment is needed over the other, Paul, the head grower for the farm, says, “I have a couple guys that do nothing but walk the plants as they're watering. They look for brown spots on the plants or pests like spider mites—and when issues are discovered, they get targeted treatment.”

In the end, it’s all about what’s best for the plant to maintain health. “If you get healthy plants, you have great-tasting fruit. If you have unhealthy plants, your fruit suffers,” Paul says.

Helping Hands

Untiedt’s Vegetable Farm utilizes a very hands-on production style. Planting is done by hand. As crops grow in the high tunnels, they’re tied (and re-tied) up by hand as they grow and regularly monitored for health or signs of distress. Much of the weeding, especially in the high tunnels, is also done by hand. And all of the crops are harvested by hand. As one can imagine, this requires a lot of hands.

To support the farm’s operations, for decades Jerry has relied on the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Work Visa—a Federal program that allows for the legal hire of seasonal employees from around the world. These workers are specialized in agricultural production often coming from Mexico, Ukraine and South Africa. 

However, in 2024 the farm had to cut their workforce by 30 people. “This is really heartbreaking because these are people who have worked their heart and soul out for us over the last 20 or 30 years,” Jerry says.

“When I first started with Jerry, he took me down to Mexico and we stayed with the guys,” Paul says. “We'd go and see where they're from, meet their families, meet their wives, meet their kids—and now some of those kids are coming up here and are 25 years old. … They're all great. They're family—they truly are.”

These labor force cuts were due to the impact of high costs associated with the H-2A program (in which the Federal government sets the hourly rate for workers each year) and state regulations that require farmers to pay their seasonal employees overtime for any hours in excess of 48 per week—regulations that the five surrounding states don’t have.

“We furnish all the free housing to everybody, we pay all their legal expenses, we pay all their flight costs, all their travel costs, per diem while they're traveling,” Jerry says. “We have to add all that onto the cost of the product.”

This affects where they can sell their products, as well as their ability to be competitive with products from neighboring states. Jerry says their products are typically 25% more expensive than similar products in surrounding states, because of the increased overhead costs.

And while they didn’t have to make any additional workforce cuts for the 2025 season, budgets and margins are incredibly tight. “Agriculture in Minnesota and the United States is at a breaking point,” Jenna says. “Farmers already deal with a lot of unknowns because of the weather but now having no idea what the administration is going to do is making our jobs that much more difficult and nerve-racking.”

It’s this issue that has spurred Jerry’s continued involvement in the Minnesota Farm Bureau Federation. “I'm quite involved with using their legislative lobbying and information services,” he says. “They do a wonderful job of keeping me in the loop with new legislation that's being proposed both on a state and federal level. And I work with Dan Glessing, the president, quite a bit. We talk frequently. Minnesota's a very tough state to be a farmer in, as we're subjected to a lot of rules and regulations that the rest of the states are not subjected to. So, the Farm Bureau has been just excellent to be in partnership with.”

Where to Find Untiedt’s Produce

Want to buy produce, flowers or fall ornamentals from Untiedt’s Vegetable Farm? Visit one of their garden centers, vegetable stands or farmers market booths around the Twin Cities and West Metro. You can find all their location details at untiedts.com/pages/locations.

A Heart for Giving Back

When Untiedt’s Vegetable Farm has excess produce, they donate the extra units to meet community needs whenever possible, rather than going into their composting operation.

“We've been very blessed—my family, my cohorts that I work with every day, my workers,” says Jerry Untiedt, the founder of Untiedt’s Vegetable Farm. “I feel it's only right to give back to some people that perhaps haven't been quite as fortunate as we've been.”

This outreach program involves making donations to local food shelves, community action groups and churches—all with the goal of helping alleviate hunger or food insecurity.

“We found that there's a cadre of very open-hearted and giving individuals who want to help this community—be they senior citizens or be they immigrants that are just getting started in the United States or whoever needs the product,” Jerry adds. “So, it's a big focus for us. We're honored to be able to do it. They are the most gracious people that we encounter, and we want to make their life a little bit easier, and this is how we do it.”