Midwest Kernza® Farm to Mill Field Day

Join Michael Fields Agricultural Institute and University of Minnesota's Forever Green Initiative with Kernza® farmers Graham Adsit, Andy Rowntree, and Dr. Nicole Tautges for a field day devoted to best management practices when harvesting Kernza®. The day will begin at the Rooster Milling facility with coffee and Fields Best baked goods, then we will move to the production fields, and then return to the mill for a demonstration.

“Does swathing it result in a better yield? Is it worth the extra trips across the field? This is a question Kernza farmers, including us, often encounter. The demonstration of the different harvest methods is going to be a unique aspect of this field day that will enable an in-person comparison of the results of the three harvesting options for Kernza, and we’ll get to discuss the results with a bunch of other growers as well. This will be a can’t-miss event.” - Dr. Tautges.

Kernza® Intermediate Wheatgrass is a novel perennial grain with niche, value-added uses for baking, brewing, and distilling. It is a true perennial grain with 3 years of production after planting. Farmers attending will get an in-field look at three different harvest methods (direct combining, swathing, stripper header) to help growers make critical on-farm decisions to capture maximum marketable yield from this innovative, perennial grain. 

We'll also be touring the Rooster Milling facilities to see cleaning & post-harvest handling. Rooster Milling is operated by Graham Adsit and Andy Rowntree. They established a grain cleaning and milling line to enable value-added marketing of grains grown on the farm, and to help other growers market their grain. Rooster Milling sells processed food-grade grain to distilleries, bakeries, and high-quality flours for home bakers. Rooster Milling is unique in the way it prioritizes helping other farmers succeed.

These demos will be followed by networking and knowledge sharing specifically for farmers & perennial grain growers. 

Lunch will be provided by Mama Bear Catering in Mukwonago, WI.

Rain Date Aug. 28th, 11am - 4pm.

This event is hosted by Graham Adsit and Andy Rowntree at Rooster Milling, East Troy, and co-hosted by Dr. Nicole Tautges in the Kernza® production fields of the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute.

Organized and funded by Forever Green Initiative, St. Paul, MN.

This research collaboration operates as KernzaCAP, which is supported by AFRI Sustainable Agricultural Systems Coordinated Agricultural Project (SAS-CAP) grant no. 2020-68012-31934 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Presenters:

Nicole Tautges, PhD, is Research Director at the Michael Fields Agricultural Institute. Dr. Tautges is a nationally recognized Kernza researcher and, in addition to authoring numerous grower resources and scientific publications on the crop, is a Kernza farmer herself. She direct markets the grain and flour through MFAI’s Fields Best Shop online, and at three weekly farmers markets.

Evan Craine is The Land Institute's Lead Scientist for Grain Use and Quality. He has a PhD in Crop Science from Washington State University, where he studied the end-use quality of quinoa and malting barley. Evan manages the Kernza and Baki Bean Annual Monitoring Programs at TLI in collaboration with participating growers. 

Jen Mayer leads the Crop Stewardship team at The Land Institute, focused on policy, market, and food science research aimed at guiding and ensuring the adoption and scaling of perennial grains. She is a senior food systems and agricultural professional with experience designing and managing food systems development programs in Africa and founder of an innovative food start-up in Zimbabwe developing, promoting and scaling climate-smart products.

Matt Leavitt is the Perennial and Winter Annual Agronomy Specialist with University of Minnesota Forever Green Initiative; helping farmers of all types around Minnesota and the region adopt new and novel continuous living cover crops into their rotations. Prior to this, he worked for 12 years as the organic seed lead and agronomist at Albert Lea Seed, a diversified farm seed company in Albert Lea, MN. 

Andy Rowntree is the head cleaner and miller at Rooster Milling.  Since 2021 they have processed kernza for several Wisconsin and Minnesota growers. 

Graham Adsit  grows organic & non-GMO corn, soybeans, barley, canola, wheat, rye, oats, kernza and buckwheat on his family farm in East Troy, WI. Adsit has diversified his grain operation to include a mill and processing facility, where he sells processed food-grade grain to local businesses, including distilleries that make whiskey from corn and rye and even a Mexican restaurant that makes tortillas from corn.

For more information contact Matt Leavitt: leav0046@umn.edu or 612-381-6199