Founder Story

"Our mission to use the latest in local, year-round fresh food production as a human health solution, a planet health solution, and as a food security solution, allows us to be a resource for food and agriculture knowledge and information as food systems adapt for a healthier tomorrow. Public health outcomes improve, in communities and society, when we first address the most important part of health..the food we eat". ~ David Stennes, Founder

Advancements in farming and food production technology have rapidly developed over the last decade. While it remains true that only 1 out of 100 "farm kids" want to return to the family farm, a new generation of young people have great interest in the technology-based careers that agriculture and the future foods economy have created. 

Using the very latest Dutch-engineered technical advancements, and replicating the Netherlands public, private, and university collaborations, the next generation of environmentally conscious, sustainable food production paves the way to grow the freshest, healthiest food. 12 months a year.  

From our 1855 family farming roots in Southwest Wisconsin, Arcola Farms launches in 2023 with our first 80 acre farm, education food hall, cafe, and large outdoor patio spaces at our 5 acre greenhouse facility, near Minneapolis. 

The Arcola Farms Origin Story: 

David Stennes, Arcola Farms founder and CEO, had an interest in horticulture early in life, with his first outside summer job as groundskeeper for an estate, where Arcola Bridge crosses over Lake Minnetonka. In high school and college, summers were spent in horticulture education, working with trees to treat Dutch Elm Disease, with the cure that his uncle, Mark Stennes, created at the University of Minnesota. Mark was a renowned plant pathologist, scientist and researcher, who’s later work included the discovery and product creation of the disease resistant St. Croix Elm (available commercially at Bachmans and Gertens).

In 2018, with a lifetime of passionate interest in plants, forestry, and farming, David and his wife, Mary, bought out her family’s interest in their Wisconsin farm. Decades of chemical spraying and field-damaging tilling had eroded the monoculture corn and soybean fields to what had become hardened ground, incapable of holding rainwater. He couldn't penetrate the ground with a shovel. 

Using his knowledge and research in agroforestry and regenerative agriculture, Stennes took a bold approach to restoring soil health and bringing back biodiversity to the fields. 

In the first season, he stopped 100 years of corn and soybean rotation and chemical spraying, and planted fields with native cover crops, to draw the last earth-toxic Glyphosate herbicide residue from the ground. The goal was to return the neglected land to rich, fertile fields of soft soil for growing produce to sell locally. 

"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. We don't eat the food grown in these fields. It was time to change it", he said. 

The process of farm research and learning led Stennes to study 3 critical things in American farming. 1) Sustainability in food production 2) The damage of chemical inputs to farms, to our food supply, and the dramatic increases in human health problems associated with food. 3) The health of the planet, and our need to feed far more people in the future. 

Lightbulb Moment: In his research into the latest ideas on planting, David came across a National Geographic cover-story on Dutch greenhouse technology that changed the trajectory of his plans for growing food. 

 “This Tiny Country Feeds the World: The Netherlands has become an agricultural giant by showing what the future of farming could look like”. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/holland-agriculture-sustainable-farming  The Netherlands is #2 in world exports of food, growing chemical free food year-round, in large scale indoor farms. 

The questions came. 

“What if we could grow great quality, healthy food, sustainably, without chemical inputs, and not just in June through early September?" 

"What if we covered this whole field with a modern greenhouse, to keep fresh food coming all year?" 

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.

Now, in spring and summer 2023, join us on the journey as we prepare to build and plant the seeds at our first indoor farm.  

Arcola Farms is proud to lead the way in healing our planet.