New Crop Marketing Has Challenges
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Growing a new crop like Kernza can be challenging enough, but Kansas and Nebraska farmers Brandon Kaufman and Brandon Schlautman have learned that marketing is an even bigger challenge. Schlautman is also a perennial crop scientist who has studied the genetics and agronomics of perennial grain crops. While that helped him learn to grow the crop, it did nothing to help him sell his harvested grain.
“Brandon and I each planted Kernza in 2018, but we kept running into problems marketing it,” says Schlautman. “We realized that if we wanted to keep producing it, we needed to turn the grain into ingredients and other products.”
Over the past six years, the two have done just that with their company, Sustain-A-Grain. In addition to their own production, they work with Kernza growers in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado and Montana. Adding growers is important to meet the growing interest of food and beverage companies. It’s also important to Kaufman and Schlautman because they believe in Kernza and the soil health benefits it provides.
However, increasing supply was only half the battle. The business had grown to 2,000 acres and was transitioning to organic production when a large buyer switched away.
“We missed out on a huge market as a result,” he says. “But it also helped us focus on developing new markets rather than focusing all our business on a single customer.”
In addition to working with the food and beverage industry, they have an online store that sells a $30 sampler pack of rolled flakes, whole grain flour and egg noodles. They also sell whole Kernza grain in 25 and 50-lb. amounts, as well as larger quantities of the sampler pack items.
“Bakers really like the functionality Kernza brings to baked goods,” says Schlautman. “It has three times the fiber of wheat, absorbs more moisture, has a nice texture, more protein (almost twice that of wheat), and almost a Christmassy aroma. It’s also high in antioxidants.”
While Kernza has gluten, it’s a different kind from wheat. Researchers have found that a blend of 20 percent Kernza added to bread flour makes a good bread. It can also be used by itself in cookies, pastries and other baked goods.
This writer purchased the sampler pack. I used the flour at 100 percent in an old family muffin recipe, and the results were ideal. The flour had great flavor, formed a nice crumb and had a crispy, sweet exterior. The flakes, with their rich, nutty flavor, were a nice alternative to oatmeal.
However, consumer purchases from the company’s online store are only a fraction of the demand needed for Kernza acres to grow.
“Growers are still trying to move inventory from 2022, and 2023 is sitting there, too,” says Schlautman. “The reality is it’s still just a small quantity of grain. A General Mills or a large distillery could use the existing inventory in the blink of an eye. We just need one or two large entities to buy into the vision, and the marketplace will blow wide open.”
Schlautman suggests that one mistake made early on with Kernza was to market it as a perennial wheat. Instead, he offers, it needs to stand on its own like other specialty grains such as wild rice, quinoa and other amaranths.
“It has a great and unique flavor,” says Schlautman. “We need to work on demand and why it’s desirable in baked goods and distilled products. We also need people to understand that Kernza helps meet regenerative ag goals. It lives for years and has enormous roots that stop erosion, trap carbon and prevent runoff.”
Most Kernza growers come out of the no-till movement. They often use a burndown on a field before no-tilling the Kernza into alfalfa or following soybeans. It’s then relatively easy to transition to organic production.
“In years two and beyond, there’s almost no weed pressure at all,” says Schlautman. “Growers need a market for those first three years before they can certify organic.”
Sustain-A-Grain is working to find markets for transitioning growers and established organic growers. In the past year, it has shipped Kernza to 11 countries, released new products, and sold it to a national brewer planning a major product launch this spring. It has also worked with a craft master to explore new uses.
“We get calls daily from people interested in growing Kernza,” says Schlautman. “We are trying to support a larger number of growers, but we need the market to make it possible.”
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Sustain-A-Grain (info@sustainagrain.com; www.sustainagrain.com).
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New Crop Marketing Has Challenges CROPS New Crops Growing a new crop like Kernza can be challenging enough but Kansas and Nebraska farmers Brandon Kaufman and Brandon Schlautman have learned that marketing is an even bigger challenge Schlautman is also a perennial crop scientist who has studied the genetics and agronomics of perennial grain crops While that helped him learn to grow the crop it did nothing to help him sell his harvested grain “Brandon and I each planted Kernza in 2018 but we kept running into problems marketing it ” says Schlautman “We realized that if we wanted to keep producing it we needed to turn the grain into ingredients and other products ” Over the past six years the two have done just that with their company Sustain-A-Grain In addition to their own production they work with Kernza growers in Kansas Nebraska Iowa Colorado and Montana Adding growers is important to meet the growing interest of food and beverage companies It’s also important to Kaufman and Schlautman because they believe in Kernza and the soil health benefits it provides However increasing supply was only half the battle The business had grown to 2 000 acres and was transitioning to organic production when a large buyer switched away “We missed out on a huge market as a result ” he says “But it also helped us focus on developing new markets rather than focusing all our business on a single customer ” In addition to working with the food and beverage industry they have an online store that sells a $30 sampler pack of rolled flakes whole grain flour and egg noodles They also sell whole Kernza grain in 25 and 50-lb amounts as well as larger quantities of the sampler pack items “Bakers really like the functionality Kernza brings to baked goods ” says Schlautman “It has three times the fiber of wheat absorbs more moisture has a nice texture more protein almost twice that of wheat and almost a Christmassy aroma It’s also high in antioxidants ” While Kernza has gluten it’s a different kind from wheat Researchers have found that a blend of 20 percent Kernza added to bread flour makes a good bread It can also be used by itself in cookies pastries and other baked goods This writer purchased the sampler pack I used the flour at 100 percent in an old family muffin recipe and the results were ideal The flour had great flavor formed a nice crumb and had a crispy sweet exterior The flakes with their rich nutty flavor were a nice alternative to oatmeal However consumer purchases from the company’s online store are only a fraction of the demand needed for Kernza acres to grow “Growers are still trying to move inventory from 2022 and 2023 is sitting there too ” says Schlautman “The reality is it’s still just a small quantity of grain A General Mills or a large distillery could use the existing inventory in the blink of an eye We just need one or two large entities to buy into the vision and the marketplace will blow wide open ” Schlautman suggests that one mistake made early on with Kernza was to market it as a perennial wheat Instead he offers it needs to stand on its own like other specialty grains such as wild rice quinoa and other amaranths “It has a great and unique flavor ” says Schlautman “We need to work on demand and why it’s desirable in baked goods and distilled products We also need people to understand that Kernza helps meet regenerative ag goals It lives for years and has enormous roots that stop erosion trap carbon and prevent runoff ” Most Kernza growers come out of the no-till movement They often use a burndown on a field before no-tilling the Kernza into alfalfa or following soybeans It’s then relatively easy to transition to organic production “In years two and beyond there’s almost no weed pressure at all ” says Schlautman “Growers need a market for those first three years before they can certify organic ” Sustain-A-Grain is working to find markets for transitioning growers and established organic growers In the past year it has shipped Kernza to 11 countries released new products and sold it to a national brewer planning a major product launch this spring It has also worked with a craft master to explore new uses “We get calls daily from people interested in growing Kernza ” says Schlautman “We are trying to support a larger number of growers but we need the market to make it possible ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Sustain-A-Grain info@sustainagrain com; www sustainagrain com
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