Committee hears testimony on grants to grow markets for perennial cover crops, Kernza and Camelina

Representative Nelson told the committee House File 16 77 would support developing markets for continuous living cover crops (CLC) such as Kernza and winter camelina by continuing grant funding the state initiated in recent years. The bill is intended to help scale markets beyond on‑farm uses so more producers have reliable buyers for perennial grains and other CLC crops.

Peter LaFontaine read testimony on behalf of Christopher Abbott, founder of Perennial Pantry, who said state grant support helped operationalize a production bakery and that Kernza plantings in one Minnesota town reduced city water nitrates by 40 percent. Missy Blue of SturdyLeap described using program grants to incorporate perennial grain into product lines and said the program’s “perennial percent” certification can help guarantee demand when major brands adopt inclusion targets. Kurt Kimber of a 240‑acre organic farm and board member of Perennial Promise Growers Cooperative said the cooperative expects continued grant support for at least three more years as it builds supply chains.

Colin Kurets of the University of Minnesota Forever Green Initiative told the committee Kernza acreage is about 5,000 acres nationwide and that camelina acreage in the region has grown from roughly 100 to more than 2,000 to about 5,000 acres over the past three years. Witnesses said the developing-markets grants are consistently oversubscribed and that business demand for perennial grains is rising, with sales into products such as pasta and beer and interest from large buyers seeking environmentally differentiated ingredients.

The committee laid the measure over for further consideration and did not take a committee vote; members asked for more concise acreage and market data for future hearings.