50 Years of Green Continuity: What 50 Years of WheatgrassProduction Means for Your Ingredient Supply Chain

50 years of continuous wheatgrass production on the same Kansas farm gives Pines an uncommon story of reliability, traceability, and formulation consistency that few ingredient suppliers can match. For R&D, procurement, and formulation teams, that history translates directly into lower supplier-change risk and more predictable finished-product specs over time.

Why 50 years of “green continuity” matters

For brands that live and die by consistent labels and COAs, ingredient supply cannot be a variable. PINES’ 50th anniversary in 2026 marks five decades of focused cereal grass production for the natural products industry, all anchored on the same glacial-soil fields in northeast Kansas.

• The farm has produced cereal grass for human nutrition since 1932, creating 94 years of agricultural continuity on the same land.

• That continuity underpins stable growing practices, repeatable field performance, and long-term ingredient availability for CPG, supplement, and beverage brands.

One farm, one standard

Most ingredient supply chains are built from a patchwork of farms, brokers, and processors, each with their own practices. Kansas Wheatgrass is different: the core PINES farm that first produced cereal grass in 1932 is still the center of production today.

• The same glacial, mineral-rich soils north of Lawrence, Kansas are used for wheatgrass, barley grass, oat grass, and alfalfa, all grown as certified organic crops.

• Because PINES owns and controls the farm, it can maintain consistent crop rotations, soil-building programs, and input standards year after year, rather than adjusting to whatever contract fields are available.

Jointing-stage harvest and formulation predictability

For formulators, the key question is not just “Where is it grown?” but “How tightly is it grown and harvested to spec?”. PINES follows the same jointing-stage harvest standards established on the farm in the 1930s and refined over the last 50 years of commercial production.

• Cereal grasses are harvested at the nutrient-dense jointing stage, before the plant diverts nutrition into the developing grain, which supports dense chlorophyll, vitamin, and mineral profiles.

• Those harvest standards, paired with low-temperature drying and oxidation-control practices, help produce predictable assay results and tight COA ranges from lot to lot and season to season.

Documentation, QA, and COA consistency

R&D directors and procurement managers need more than a story; they need documentation that stands up to internal QA and regulatory review. Decades of multi-generational record keeping on the Kansas farm provide a deep paper trail behind each lot shipped through Pines.

• PINES tests each 1,000 kg lot at harvest and again prior to shipment, supporting consistent specifications for moisture, microbial parameters, and key nutritional markers.

• Continuous, single-origin production simplifies traceability: brands can trace ingredients back to specific fields and harvest windows on the same long-standing farm, rather than navigating a rotating network of anonymous growers.

Lower supplier-change risk for long-term brands

Switching green ingredients can trigger reformulation work, label updates, and subtle shifts in sensory profile, all of which carry cost and risk. By partnering with a supplier that has demonstrated 50 years of uninterrupted production and 90+ years of stewardship of the same land, brands can build multi-decade product strategies with more confidence.

• Many successful green superfood brands either started with or still rely on PINES ingredients because of that long-term consistency in supply and performance.

• With new certified-organic bottomland acreage coming online near the original fields, Pines is positioned to extend that continuity into the next generation of formulations while maintaining the same core growing and harvesting standards.

For R&D, procurement, and formulation teams planning the next decade of product launches, now is the moment to lock in a green ingredient partner with a proven 50-year track record. To explore specs, COAs, and bulk pricing for PINES cereal grass powders and juices, contact the Pines team or request technical documentation directly through our Contact Us page so your next formulation starts with a stable, traceable source.