In early April 2019, Cascadian Farm, the organic branch of General Mills, released a limited-edition Honey Toasted Kernza cereal. The 6,000 boxes went to the Deeply Rooted for Good campaign to raise money for The Land Institute’s research efforts. The campaign kickoff in San Francisco gathered food writers and environmentalists to try Kernza and learn … Continue reading Deeply Rooted for Good
Patagonia Provisions, the food/beverage line of eco-friendly outdoor wear company Patagonia, was the first major brand to use Kernza® in a widely commercially-available product. Back in 2017, they released Long Root Ale, brewed at Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland, Oregon. The two companies partnered to release a second Kernza beer, Long Root Wit, in 2019. … Continue reading Long Root Wit
Large amounts of carbon were released from the soil when forests and prairies were plowed for agriculture. As climate change becomes more of a threat, soil’s role in releasing or sequestering carbon under agriculture is getting a hard look. With perennial plants and their long root systems, much more carbon stays in the soil than … Continue reading Kernza® and Climate Change
Kernza® is listed as one of the “Five Ingredients Disrupting the Mainstream Food World” by the New Hope Network’s Todd Runestad. This intermediate wheatgrass with a sweet, nutty taste is called “the face of regenerative agriculture”. The five listed ingredients are feeding a consumer desire not just for better taste but for better health for … Continue reading Kernza® a Disrupter for a Good Cause
Madeline Ostrander writes in The Nation that Kernza® is “The Grain that Tastes Like Wheat, but Grows Like a Prairie Grass.” From obtaining seed samples from The Rodale Institute, to the breeding efforts of Lee DeHaan with Thinopyrum intermedium, to food use by early adopters such as the Birchwood Café, Madeline traces the history leading … Continue reading Journey from Prairie Grass to Food
BioScience magazine asked if modern agriculture could be sustainable and answered “Perennial polyculture holds promise”. Through conversations with Lee DeHaan and other staff and research partners, The Land Institute demonstrates how domesticating wild species, as it did with Kernza®, and crossbreeding perennials with annuals will lead to grains that are more climate change resistant, better … Continue reading Breeding for a Perennial Polyculture
When Patagonia Provisions first released craft beer Long Root Ale, Kernza® was touted as the sustainable secret ingredient that they wanted to let everyone know about. Long Root Ale is not available everywhere yet, but as interest in and demand for the grain grows, we hope to see more locations beyond the West Coast selling … Continue reading Kernza® a Craft Beer Ingredient
