Food and Manufacturing Reporter | Food and Manufacturing

Brooks Johnson is a business reporter covering Minnesota’s food industry, 3M and manufacturing trends.

Raised in Fargo and educated at the University of Montana, Johnson worked at newspapers in Idaho, Washington and Duluth before joining the Star Tribune at its relaunched Duluth bureau in 2019. He lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and their young son and is looking for new streams to fly-fish.


Minnesota marijuana sales could be delayed or in short supply if planting doesn't start soon

Growers need time to get cannabis planted, harvested, tested and processed — preferably before retailers open.


Hormel settles pork price-fixing suits for $11 million

The company will pay less than other major pork producers have to date to settle the antitrust cases.


Minnesota's struggling plastic film recycler facing eviction for $1.3 million in unpaid rent, bills

Myplas USA owes nearly $400,000 in back rent and faces an $895,000 lien for unpaid electrical work on the facility that was the first of its kind in the state.


Millennials: Is your financial reality not living up to expectations? Get in touch.

We're exploring income disparity and how it affects people's lives.


Where do MLB baseballs come from? Cargill cattle, of course

The Minnesota-based company supplies most of the Holstein hides that become the millions of prized pearls produced every year.


CHS earnings dinged by warm winter

The Minnesota-based ag co-op saw much-improved results in grain and oilseeds.


There may be something worse than pee in your Cheerios, say lawsuits alleging pesticide contamination

Lawsuits in New York and California allege the Minnesota company's flagship cereal contains high levels of chlormequat.


Post calls conspiracy allegations about Snoop Dogg's cereal 'completely false'

The rapper's company, Broadus Foods, is suing the Minnesota cereal maker and Walmart after poor sales of Snoop Cereal.


3M gets final court approval for $12.5 billion 'forever chemicals' settlement

The deal with public water systems addresses PFAS contamination.


3M just got a lot smaller. How did it ever get so big?

The company grew to $35 billion in revenue by taking risks for more than a century, but it has to pay off some of its bad bets and shrink before it can grow again.