Origin Story
The lifetime interest in plants and trees and things that grow started early for David Stennes. From childhood summers eating carrots, snap peas, and raspberries from his grandmothers northern Minnesota gardens, to his teenage years tending gardens and landscapes on a lake estate beneath the Arcola Bridge west of Minneapolis, Stennes has spent a lifetime connected to roots in the ground.
Studying under the direction of his uncle, renowned plant pathologist and university researcher Mark Stennes, David learned about carbon sequestration decades before the modern-day application of it. With his University of Minnesota research to develop the cure for Dutch Elm Disease prevention, Mark went on discover and commercialize the worlds first Dutch Elm disease resistant tree, the St. Croix Elm. Working throughout high school and college on the elm tree crews, David watched from beneath the massive canopies as carbon was pulled down and stored in the deep roots below ground.
For the last 40 years, Stennes honed his skills in perennial and Hosta garden design, with interest and pursuit in agriculture and farming from his Scandinavian ancestry.
In 2018, David and his wife, Mary, took over management of the multi-generational Wisconsin farm that had been in her family since 1855. Decades of monoculture corn and soybean farming had depleted the soil health, so Stennes began to engage the principles regenerative agriculture, to restore soil health and bring biodiversity and a thriving below-ground ecoystem to the fields.
Replaced with new fields of native grasses and all-year cover crops, the organic conversion from neglected land to rich, fertile fields of soft soils was underway.
"Standing in a farm field with mud boots on, realizing the potential to grow real food for the local communities instead of selling corn and soy for pennies, made an immediate impact on me", Stennes said. "I'm experienced in this, but until I was standing in our own field, I didn't fully grasp how much American farmland grows corn and soybeans just for ethanol, diesel, and animal feed. Farmers know that corn and soybeans don't end up as food on our plates. And they know how bad of shape their over-farmed fields and soils have become. We need to begin to do our part to change it", he said. (There are 6 million acres of industrial corn and soybeans grown in Wisconsin, and 15 million acres in Minnesota).
Stennes now applies 3 critical rules of thought in American farming. 1) Sustainability in food production 2) Reversing the damage of chemical inputs to farms, to our food supply, and the dramatic increases in human health problems associated with food. 3) The direct connection to improving soil health and below-the-surface biodiversity in large scale, for the health of the planet, and our need to feed far more people in the future.
Arcola, like its namesake bridges over rivers and lakes worldwide, represents the path, the crossing, the evolution from what’s old to to what’s new, from what was to what can be. From here, to there.
With their Wisconsin farm located a long drive from their Minneapolis home, they sold the farm, and David’s lifetime of work to create Arcola Farms began.
How we came to Kernza (or how Kernza came to us).
Our plans to build our 5 acre Dutch glass commercial production greenhouse revolved around the Minnesota and Wisconsin need for Farm to Schools fresh local produce. We were set to purchase the 80 acre farm, and the 217,000 sq ft (5 acre) greenhouse would create a significant carbon footprint. We had researched Kernza as a perfect environmental carbon offset; the 10' deep roots would draw more carbon than the food manufacturing plant we were building. 60 acres of Kernza fields waving in the wind like the amber waves of grain that once covered a third of Minnesota farmland is an incredible idea, and viewed from our food hall and ag education center, would be a showcase for our work both in food and regenerative agriculture soil health restoration.
The planning process involved us gaining purchase commitments from outstate Minnesota schools for fresh delivered snack sized tomatoes and peppers, before we built the building. The need is high, the produce would sell quickly.
Then we met a school nutrition leader who changed the trajectory of the plan. "We love the soft produce during the school year, but realize that it's only 10% of our food budget. 80% of the budget is spent on protein for the kids."
Lightbulb moment.
"We have Kernza. It's a high protein, high fiber, low gluten, single ingredient natural food source with a variety of simple recipe uses. Our Farm to Schools programming, our impact on the brain and body health of young people, our far-reaching impact with grains production at scale, our ability to make very high positive environmental impact, all would happen if we shift the plans and work on the future of Kernza adoption first".
So the deep dive into the deep roots of Kernza production and scaling began. Now we are closely aligned with the University of Minnesota's Forever Green Initiative, the University of Wisconsin, The Land Institute, and Kernza.org. We have researched and invested time, resources, and funding to advance our ability to scale impact through true vertical integration and adoption of perennial and regenerative agriculture at scale. We are proud to be educators, mentors, lobbyists, and commercialization leaders in the merchant trade of grains of a healthy food and farming future.