OFI 1479: Turning Five Generations Of Popcorn Growing Experience Into A Delicious Value Added Product | Andrew Bowman | Pilot Knob Comforts

Some time back we broadened our horizons on the Off-Farm Income Podcast, and on our ag business episodes started interviewing farmers with value added business rather than just off-farm businesses.  That has been a great decision, and I am so happy that we opened it up.  It is interviews like today's that remind my why this was such a great decision.  Profiling farmer/entrepreneurs like today's guest, Andrew Bowman, make that decision and easy winner. Andrew lives and farms in the heart of the Corn Belt, as his family has done for over 100 years.  And for all of those generations his family has included popcorn in the list of crops that they grow.  So, when Andrew and his wife took over the family farm after his father passed away they knew that popcorn would be part of the story.  However, they also started looking at the sustainability of the farm business for the next generation, and that led them to look into doing something different. The idea that they eventually landed on was directed marketing a niche product, and that is when Pilot Knob Comforts Popcorn as a company first "popped"!.  Through a series of connections that included farmers in the area, friends and instructors from college led to the development of a popcorn brand with red and blue popcorn kernels.  Today, PKC Popcorn can be found all over the country and ordered online and they are just getting started.  In today's episode you will hear the story of the development of this company, and I predict that you will be trying PKC Popcorn very soon as well! More Places You Can Listen to Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald: