The Northern Crops Institute at NDSU hosted its first-ever Ancient Grains Conference at the Oliver Kelley Farm in Elk River, Minnesota, on July 20. The event was to explore the benefits of consuming ancient grains foods while also showing participants the numerous potential uses for ancient grains. 

The conference included keynote speakers Shrene White, director of Specialty Grains and general manager of The Annex by Ardent at Ardent Mills; Andrew Ross, professor in the Oregon State University food science department; and Jonathan Bethony, co-owner and head baker at SEYLOU. It also included an agronomy panel discussion led by Neil Doty, NCI business development manager, a trends and applications panel discussion led by Aidin Milani, sales and development manager at Pulses and Seeds at Buhler Inc. and a health and nutrition panel discussion led by Julie Garden-Robinson, NDSU Extension food and nutrition specialist.

The adoption of ancient grains in food preparation and consumption is rapidly expanding, making the conference important for industry professionals to keep pace with the changing landscape.

Event organizers at the institute are planning to host a second conference in 2022 that will focus on the outlook for the agriculture marketplace during the next five years.

The institute supports regional agriculture and value-added processing by conducting educational and technical programs that expand and maintain domestic and international markets for northern-grown crops. NCI is funded by the states of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota and commodity groups in those states and Montana.