Farm History
The Juten family farm is a Century Farm. It began in 1904 when Sven Juten obtained 44 acres along Eagle Lake in northeast Minnesota via the Homestead Act. Five years later, Sven left the land to his son, Axel. At age 21, Axel began raising cattle, hogs, and grew potatoes that he sold to restaurants and commission companies in town. He used the excess vegetables and products from the commission houses to feed the hogs. In 1925, he purchased more land and started milking cows. The herd grew to 50 head. Axel stopped milking in 1943 and went to work at a commission company part-time and it turned into a full time job. That’s when he met Jeno Paulucci and was asked by Jeno to haul his excess food waste, which he fed to the hogs. That was the big start to the hog and cattle business for the farm.
Don and his brother, Fran, purchased the farm from their father in 1970 and where it was incorporated, naming it Cedar Drive Stock Farm. The Jutens also recycled pizza crusts from Jeno’s Pizza to feed their growing hog herd. When Jeno’s left Duluth in 1982, the Jutens ended their extensive hog operation. Over the years the Jutens purchased more land as it became available, reaching 1,640 acres producing timber, gravel, land development and livestock. In 2009, Don’s sons, Jay and Gary, purchased the farm.
Today
The current farm has 1,430 acres, 160 beef cows and 150 calves. The family harvests 350 acres of hay for the livestock. The Jutens continue to develop watering systems and improved fencing for continued growth of their herd.
In 2020, an acre of land was set aside to grow hops. This operation was headed up by Chris Juten and Adam Campbell. With lots of family help during harvest, in 2021, the farm partnered with Castle Danger to create a fresh hop IPA called, Full Circle IPA. Tim Juten regularly hauls away the brewery’s spent grain which we give our cows, thus the name “Full Circle IPA” was derived.
In 2022, Duluth Farming Company LLC was formed to be the marketing division of the farm. It was created in a partnership between Chris, Naomi, Ali, and Nick Juten. The idea was to shift the farming model from being strictly a cow/calf operation, to taking it a step further and feeding out our cattle to sell direct to consumers. The name was chosen as a way to grow our farm and market our beef, honey and others products in the future.
Though we have only named a few family members here, the entire family has helped the farm in one way or another over the years. Through generations of time and hard work, our family has remained close and connected, and ultimately, is the foundation and reason the farm has remained in existence over the last 118 years.