Strengthening Kernza Grain Quality, Storage, and Market Confidence in the North Central Region

Commodities

Practices

Kernza® is a versatile perennial cereal crop with strong potential to advance sustainability goals in the North Central region, including the ability to adapt to adverse weather, water conservation, and improved soil health. Although Kernza has been grown commercially in the region since 2016, information gaps around grain quality, storage practices, and supply consistency limit growers' ability to reliably meet market demand. A 2023 market demand review by The Land Institute (TLI) identified barriers to market development, including uncertainty about long-term grain availability, inconsistent grain quality data, and limited verified claims about ecological and nutritional benefits that can be linked to specific fields or grain lots.

Additional informational gaps identified by the 2024 Kernza Coordinated Agricultural Project (CAP) policy team restrict producers' ability to participate in federal support programs, particularly Risk Management Agency (RMA) crop insurance. Missing information includes lot-level dockage estimates, on-farm yield verification, and finished grain yield documentation.

This project addresses these gaps by expanding and integrating TLI's Annual Monitoring Program (AMP) launched in 2024 into a comprehensive grain quality and storage data system. This project will build on the work of the AMP program, collecting and interpreting grain quality metrics (e.g., moisture content, test weight, foreign material, cleaning and dehulling losses, nutrient composition), assessing mycotoxin and microbial risks, and evaluating how harvest and storage practices influence marketability outcomes across the North Central Region. Results will support growers, distributors, and processors in making informed decisions, improving grain handling, ensuring grain meets food-grade standards, and identifying appropriate secondary markets when needed.

The project will collaborate with two licensed Kernza distributors (Sustain-A-Grain based in Kansas and Perennial Promise Growers Cooperative based in Minnesota), and growers from their networks. Both distributors' networks include growers from across the Upper Midwest and Central Great Plains regions, providing an opportunity to identify both contextual differences and commonalities under this research project. In addition, four growers from each distributor's network will participate in an analysis of grain storage stability over time, through on-farm grain storage system comparisons. Outcomes will directly benefit farmers working with Kernza by improving market transparency, strengthening supply chains, informing postharvest management, and supporting producer eligibility for key federal programs.

This project will be structured into three research objectives. Research Objective 1 provides growers with detailed grain quality analysis and storage options. Research Objective 2 assists grain distributors in understanding dehulling and milling impacts on grain quality to improve marketing and product performance. Research Objective 3 generates practical decision support tools and advisory services for both growers and distributors. Learning outcomes include increased producer knowledge of quality indicators and storage practices; action outcomes include improved postharvest management and expanded market pathways. Primary audiences include Kernza growers, processors (Stengels and Sustain-A-Grain) distributors (Sustain-A-Grain, Perennial Promise Growers Cooperative), and supply chain partners.