Grains Processing

Grain Place Foods

David Vetter with Mikaela Wilhusen, Abby Maresh, and Krissa Gulbrandson of Central City High School

About:

Located in Aurora, Nebraska, Grain Place Foods offers grain cleaning, storage, and contract services to small-scale organic farmers and organic specialty producers. Grain Place Foods, Inc. replaced The Grain Place, the farm arm of this operation, in 1987.

They now have two basic grain cleaning lines that can run 5,000-7,000 pounds per hour (the older line) and 20,000-25,000 pounds per hour (the newer line). These grains come from 128 different growers, with 101 from the Midwest region. Grain Place Foods offers around 20 USDA certified organic and Non-GMO products and a number of other contract manufactured products across the country.

Website/Contact:

http://grainplacefoods.com/
info@grainplacefoods.com

Objectives:

To learn about grain cleaning and storage facilities
To examine the role of a specialized grain processing operation

Discussion Questions:

What is the science behind grain processing and storage?
What is the value of a smaller, specialized operation offering contract services?
How does this operation compare to a larger, more industrialized grain processing plant?
In what ways could the number or organic farmers be increased to fulfill Grain Place Food's demand? What would be the consequences of sourcing outside of the United States, as Dave suggested?
How would you measure the sustainability of Grain Place Foods? What could be improved?