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Ben Penner Farms
Ben Penner started his organic farm in Belle Plaine, MN in 2011 after a career in academic publishing with the idea that local, organic wheat flour was a huge missing link in the sustainable food chain. His farm’s mission is to inspire human flourishing through agriculture and he works to fulfill that mission through experimentation with production practices such as no-till and cover crops and by developing local markets for new organic products on 80 acres of rented land in Belle Plaine, LeSueur and Henderson, MN. He lives with his wife, Anna Versluis who is an Associate Professor of Geography at Gustavus Adolphus College and their three children; twins Grace and Lucia (9) and Eva (5) in St. Peter, MN. In addition to his own farm Ben works part-time for Anthony Farms, Inc., a corn, soybean, wheat, rye, cover crop and hog operation located near St. Peter.
There are two main priorities that animate Ben’s farm – the first is that local food should not only be sustainable, but it should also have superior flavor and freshness. We buy wine, chocolate and coffee based on a particular flavor based upon variety, land and how it was grown. Wheat and flour should be the same way. Bread and baked good lovers should be able to identify not only who grew the wheat for the bread they are eating and where they grew it, but they should also be able to tell how the different characteristics inherent in the land – the terroir – make the bread they are eating so flavorful. Ben is developing flavor characteristics with wheat that bakers and bread eaters can easily identify as superior.
The second priority is that Ben believes we need more farmers on the land, so that’s why he started his own farm, and hopes to use his farm as a platform for others to jump into agriculture. Ben’s mission is to inspire human flourishing through agriculture and there are a number of farmers that would like to use their desire to farm and their knowledge of agriculture to build a local agricultural economy that provides nourishing food for eaters and a sustainable livelihood for farmers at all scales of operation.
Golden wheat field pre-harvest at Ben Penner Farms
Products with Grain from Ben Penner Farms
Ben Penner Farms