Klaas Martens on his farm in Penn Yan, NY (Paige Hansen)

Years ago, before founding BAM and creating our buckwheat milk, I read “The Third Plate” by Dan Barber. In this book, Barber featured Klaas Martens, an upstate New York farmer who converted his farm to organic in the early ‘90s after experiencing negative effects from herbicides. Klaas’ story resonated with me.

While developing BAM Buckwheat Milk prototypes at the Cornell Food Venture Center, I reached out to Klaas. He welcomed me to his farm, where he and his son, Peter, became some of the first to try BAM Buckwheat Milk.

Klaas’ support also led to an article in Lancaster Farming, “BAM: Buckwheat Beverage Helped With Cornell and New York Farmer Collaboration,” by Dan Sullivan, who contacted me after Klaas shared my work.

Entrepreneurship is challenging, but it’s rewarding to learn about the people behind our food. BAM’s mission is to connect consumers with the farmers and the soil that sustains us.

I hope you enjoy Dan’s article in Lancaster Farming.