Suntava, a brand of Healthy Food Ingredients (HFI), developed a purple corn variety that originated in Peru—a non-GMO seed going back several hundred years.
Seed breeders developed new non-GMO and organic varieties of the corn with more disease resistance and value-added nutritional benefits.
HFI contracted Joel and James Starr, fourth generation Nebraska organic farmers to grow 40 acres of the purple corn for Purely Pinole last year. The Starr brothers also grow corn, soy, aronia berries, and a high-protein purple wheat from Ethiopia on their 1200-acre farm.