GRANITE FALLS, Minn., Jan. 30, 2024 – The fifth episode of “Minnesota’s Alt-Meat Revolution” explores the impact that PURIS – the largest operating processor of pea protein in North America – had on the local job, childcare and housing economies in the small, rural town of Dawson. The episode will be available to stream starting Friday, February 2 at www.pioneer.org/altmeat and on the Compass YouTube channel.
Megan Lynch, people operations manager at PURIS’ plant in Dawson, said that when the company expanded into Dawson, they were looking to employ about 100 people in the town of about 1,500 people. “I feel very great being able to offer employment opportunities to these people, and it is life-changing,” said Lynch.
But Tony Aafedt from the Dawson-Boyd School District and local realtor Janell Welling explain that when one area of a local economy grows, the others must be prepared to keep pace. And over time, they have noticed a strain being placed on both childcare providers and on housing availability.
“I think what PURIS did is it brought to the forefront the true need that not only Dawson is having, but all of our communities [are] having,” said Welling. “Where there's a need in one spot, it creates a need in another.”
“Minnesota’s Alt-Meat Revolution” is a year-long video and print journalism collaboration project, looking into the roots and impact of the plant-protein phenomenon that’s exploding across the globe. The project is a partnership between Pioneer PBS, West Central Tribune and WORLD, with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Each video story will be accompanied by a newspaper article by reporter Tom Cherveny of West Central Tribune. The videos and articles are available at www.pioneer.org/altmeat and www.wctrib.com/news/local/altmeat.
“Minnesota’s Alt-Meat Revolution,” together with WHRO’s “Against the Current,” a multiplatform series that will tell the story of rural residents’ lives as they live with, and adapt to, the effects of climate change in Virginia’s Eastern Shore, will be broadcast nationally and streamed under WORLD’s Local, USA series under the initiative “My Home is Here: Stories of Rural America.”
About Compass
Compass is an award-winning, solutions journalism-centered Pioneer PBS series that features current topics relevant to communities in Pioneer PBS's viewing area. Funding for Compass is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Shalom Hill Farms and members of Pioneer PBS. Learn more at www.pioneer.org/compass.
About Pioneer PBS
Established in 1966, Pioneer PBS is an award-winning, viewer-supported television station dedicated to sharing stories from rural Minnesota with the world. Learn more at www.pioneer.org.
About West Central Tribune
The West Central Tribune is a multimedia company providing news and information to our print and digital readers across west central Minnesota and beyond. Since 1895, the West Central Tribune has been driven by creating and sharing information, ideas and insight. Learn more at www.wctrib.com.
About Forum Communications Company
Forum Communications Company is rooted in harnessing the power of communication to connect and inform people in the communities we serve. Since 1917, everything Forum Communications Company has done has been driven by creating and sharing information, ideas and insights. Learn more at www.forumcomm.com.
About WORLD
WORLD shares the best of public media in news, documentaries and programming. WORLD’s original series examine the issues and amplify the voices of those often ignored by mainstream media. The multiplatform channel helps audiences understand conflicts, movements and cultures from around the globe. Its original work has won a Peabody Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award, an International Documentary Association Award, a National News and Documentary Emmy Award, two Webby Awards and many others honoring diversity of content and makers. WORLD is carried by 194 member stations in markets representing 77% of US TV households. Funding for WORLD is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Wyncote Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. WORLD is produced by GBH in partnership with WNET and is distributed by American Public Television (APT). Find out more at WORLDChannel.org.
