Colin Cureton

Director of Adoption and Scaling at @ForeverGreenUMN, thoughts are my own, perennial + CLC agriculture, avid cook + gardener, capoeirista, recovering DJ.

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

@FredIutzi @Savannainst Used to work with Niki in SoCal farm-to-institution universe, hope to intersect again soon in the agroforestry world. So happy to see her name in your tweets, Fred- great human!

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

@AnneSchwagerl Looked at the radar and saw white, blue, purple, red, green, yellow, orange, and more red all converging over near my Western MN ppl. Fun (...as in not at all fun). Wishing you smooth storm passing!

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

“SUPPORTING REGENERATIVE FARMING WITH PERENNIAL GRAINS.” @KodiakCakes is knocking the #Kernza messaging out of the park on this one. Taste test with @ForeverGreenUMN imminent. Thx Kodiak team, and thx all growers, biz, and partners that make products like this possible!!

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

Perennial rice delivers similar yields to annual rice with ~50% reduction in labor and input costs for the world's most widely consumed staple food! Tremendous basic science here, and great proof of concept for the potential of perennial grains.

[The Land Institute @NatureAsMeasure]

New research shows perennial rice production reduces labor & increases farmer profit. Perennial rice production in southern China reduced labor by nearly 60% compared to annual rice, and farmers spent almost 50% less on seeds, fertilizers, & other inputs. https://t.co/SwdU0QYtRm

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

New MN pilot grant program now LIVE to support biz, supply chain, and market dev. for #continuouslivingcover and #regenerativeagriculture! Focus in on building mkts for new perennial and winter annual crops/systems. $420k available, $10-50k each, apps due 4/13. @ForeverGreenUMN

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

@pietrospina Early commercial push hit snags yes, but over last 2 yrs Cascadian Farms (a GMI organic brand) released a Kernza cereal @ Whole Foods and a Kernza flour now @ Walmart, both nationwide. Lots of awesome Kernza entrepreneurship, too- check out Perennial Pantry + Sustain-a-Grain

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

@pietrospina There's no subsidy on the seed but there is substantial production cost share/de-risking now from the state and federal govs (NRCS), which gets at a similar outcome. Kernza for sure has its challenges, more support has been coming online the last ~2 years

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

@yorudan Back story, please! Love that you baked up some Kernza sourdough for the USDA. Gotta "feed 'em the message," right!?

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

@KeneAkers I read a children's book about this to my (multi-racial) son, it's a good one. https://t.co/SWG2vT7Yyu

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

Check this whole live-tweeted thread for highlights of a fantastic hearing in the #mnleg yesterday to advance the R&D and commercialization of new perennial and winter annual crops in the Upper Midwest.

[UMN Forever Green Initiative @ForeverGreenUMN]

@dlwyse @nytimes @EcoAgronomist @AnneSchwagerl @SeedmanMac @alseedorganics @SenWestrom @perennialpantry Testimony is now being heard on the second bill SF 1353, grants for businesses building the market for Continuous Living #CoverCrops.

@SenGustafson says these economically viable crops will benefit Minnesota farmers and citizens into the future.

[UMN Forever Green Initiative @ForeverGreenUMN]

@dlwyse @nytimes @EcoAgronomist @AnneSchwagerl @SeedmanMac @alseedorganics @SenWestrom @perennialpantry @SenGustafson Christopher Abbott, Founder of @PerennialPantry, which processes and creates food products with #Kernza, is now speaking. Says these crops represent "enormous economic opportunity" to MN, but investments in markets and supply chains are needed.

[Mitch Hunter @EcoAgronomist]

We need to bake conservation right into our cropping systems--it shouldn't be an add-on.

That's the promise of #Kernza and other new crops we're developing in @ForeverGreenUMN.

https://t.co/kJi5JPwhEN

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

Great turnout at @ForeverGreenUMN event in Morris, MN to learn about #winterbarley, @KwsUS_Rye hybrid winter rye, #Kernza, and winter #camelina. Western MN growers interested in new crops to boost #continuouslivingcover
and #SoilHealth

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

@MKernza @GLBW_UMN @MNFarmersUnion @benpenner @FriendsMissRiv @NatureAsMeasure @US_N4C @jlmgutknecht @perennialpantry @RegenPoultry @Savannainst @dooleys_kitchen @MEPartnership

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

In 2022 #MNleg allocated $500k to build biz, supply chains, and markets for #continuouslivingcover agriculture in MN, @MNagriculture now convening stakeholders 11/30 + 12/9 to inform program dev- pls join! #Kernza #elderberry #regenerativepoultry #camelina https://t.co/p1Xbi3vB6w

[Mitch Hunter @EcoAgronomist]

MN entrepreneurs: Are you working on scaling value chains for #ForeverGreenUMN crops? Join this @MNagriculture listening session to learn about a new grant program that can help support your work.

#Kernza #continuouslivingcover @MKernza

https://t.co/QCmB6iSj2F

[The Land Institute @NatureAsMeasure]

“The seeds planted by visionary researchers would have never taken root in Minnesota without supportive state agencies, policymakers, committed advocates, and conservation-minded farmers.” @US_N4C @MNagriculture @MKernza #COP27 https://t.co/PdMGsbmUFy

[US Nature4Climate @US_N4C]

By keeping #farmland covered with plants year round, perennial grains like Kernza® and “cash cover crops” like winter camelina can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase soil #carbon storage. @MKernza @NatureAsMeasure @MNagriculture #COP27

https://t.co/AOLHtt7e5p

[Mitch Hunter @EcoAgronomist]

WOW.

Perennial rice is a reality. Good news for the perennial future of agriculture!

@NatureAsMeasure @dlwyse @Turntales @JacksonRD #UMNForeverGreen

https://t.co/yJsIwSMKSZ

[Colin Cureton @Turntales]

@kagan20a @Pursell4MNHouse Congratulations, Kristi! So happy for you, and for Minnesota!