The story of Seneca Bean and Grain starts with Klaas and Mary-Howell Martens and a plot of land in Penn Yan, NY. After years of farming conventionally, Klaas and Mary-Howell realized that the chemical use of conventional farming perhaps wasn’t only making the farmer sick, but also was making the land sick. The decision to transition to organic was rooted in the tight margins of conventional farming in the early 1990s. It was a difficult decision at the time, given the unpredictability of the seasons and the fact that they would be leading the organic movement in the Finger Lakes area of New York.
As Klaas and Mary-Howell transitioned the farm to organic practices, they saw that the land responded as fast as their bodies did. The organic matter in the soils increased, the nutrient load from one crop led them to plant the next and they established a crop rotation that was symbiotic with the soils and the nutrient demand of the crops they were growing. As the number of organic acres they farmed increased, so did the interest of neighbors around them. Mary-Howell started Lakeview Organic Grain, a feed mill to fill the void in the market for organic dairy, pig, and poultry feed. Today, Lakeview Organic Grain supplies feed to farms across the Northeast.
In 2012, Peter Martens, son of Klaas and Mary-Howell, returned from an internship on an organic farm in Germany to help run the family farm. With the guidance and leadership of his parents, Peter expanded the acreage they were farming and invested in new equipment to streamline practices, protect the soils, and expand their markets. Catching the attention and garnering interest from Michelin star restaurants, research institutions, food startups, New York City farm markets and locals - the Martens saw an increasing demand for food grade products from the crops they were growing.
After a catastrophic fire burned down a portion of the family farm in 2017, with the help of neighbors, the Martens rebuilt. They decided to invest in a state of the art seed cleaning facility capable of taking crops as they come out of the field and making them ready for the end user. The cleaning facility operates as Seneca Grain Cleaning, providing access to food and seed grade markets to farmers across Upstate New York. Demand for ultra clean grain berries for fresh milled flour grew, partly in response to COVID 19 and related food supply chain issues. In early 2021, Seneca Grain and Bean was founded to supply a wider assortment of food grade grains and edible beans from the Finger Lakes, and surrounding areas, to wholesalers, bakeries, restaurants, and consumers.
In the spirit of entrepreneurship and leadership, Peter continues his parents legacy of bringing young people into the organic world. Seneca Grain and Bean works with young farmers and is run by a group of energetic and dedicated 20 and 30 year olds.
