Monte Skarsgard, Skarsgard Farms
By Erin Frye
Each week Skarsgard Farms brings the best of what’s in season by way of harvest boxes, right to the doors of their CSA members. As part of their Harvest Box program, community members in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Los Alamos can sign up in advance for a share of all the fruits, vegetables, and flowers that Skarsgard farmers will produce in a given season. Additionally, members can customize their box by ordering organic produce and value added items from small, organic growers from around the West. Skarsgard Farms works with a network of certified organic growers in order to operate on a year-round basis and to provide a wide selection of fresh food to members.
Owner, Monte Skarsgard is deeply committed to building a strong local economy, and to championing organic food production. He says, “We have to be proactive. If we want economic diversity in our communities, we have to support small local and organic producers. Having this economic diversity in the marketplace brings character and pride to our towns. Because in the end, we truly are what we eat.”
Skarsgard Farms draws its inspiration from Skarsgard’s agricultural heritage and the family farm in North Dakota. He started his business in 2003 on four acres borrowed from the Los Poblanos Inn in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque and seventeen members. Since that time, he has successfully created one of the largest CSAs in the Southwest providing high quality organic food to over seventeen hundred families a week.
His customers know Skarsgard for his entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to supporting local agriculture. For the past seven years, Skarsgard has employed dozens of farm interns, training them to be able to establish their own agricultural businesses. Many of the young farmers who frequent Albuquerque farmers markets got their start at Skarsgard Farms.
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:200]
Skarsgard Farms
3435 Stanford Drive NE, Albuquerque
505-681-4060 · www.skarsgardfarms.com
Edible celebrates New Mexico's food culture, season by season. We believe that knowing where our food comes from is a powerful thing. With our high-quality, aesthetically pleasing and informative publication, we inspire readers to support and celebrate the growers, producers, chefs, beverage and food artisans, and other food professionals in our community.
