Year 1976: PINES became a Bicentennial Company in Kansas
The year 1976. The USA marked its bicentennial, Jimmy Carter brought home-spun charm to the Oval Office, and Rocky inspired us. In Kansas, the citizens re-elected Bob Dole to the Senate. The Kansas City Royals lost a playoff heart breaker to the Yankees in the bottom of the 9th inning. Out in in Hays, Kansas, a new force in organic farming took root.
Year 1976: New Kind of Farmers
Take Root in Kansas
That’s right, Ron Seibold and Steve Malone decided to grow wheatgrass the way nature intended in the year 1976. They founded Pines, the first green superfoods company for the natural food market. They realized that this simple food had the potential to provide balanced nutrition for millions of people. Profits earned would provide funds to purchase land in danger of development and to establish organic farming communities and wildlife refuges. Basically, they wanted to treat the land with respect and to promote its health. More than 100 people chipped in an average of $200 each. They invested not because they expected big returns but because they believed in the goals. They choose the Pine tree as the name and logo because it represents the peace found in nature. 
Returning Land to Organic
from Chemical Abuse
Ron and Steve saw this as an opportunity to pursue their dream of building a business while staying connected to the land they grew up on. They wanted to work to develop a sustainable organic community. In the years since 1976, Pines grew from a two-person business in a van to an world wide company shipping cereal grass and other green foods to over 25 nations and to thousands of stores around the United States. Despite advances in harvest, packaging and bottling. Pines Wheatgrass remains a nutritious source of greens.. Pines follows an 80-year tradition established by the food scientists who provided the research for Ann Wigmore and other authors. Using the same soil and the same methods taught by the scientists, Pines provides convenient, powerfully nutritious, organically grown foods that thousands of people use every day because it makes them feel better, plain and simple. 
Pines Opposes Destruction
of our Water Resources
Why does our being the first green superfood company matter to you? Because it means that, like the products we grow and package, our roots are strong and healthy. Our belief that the need for the finest nutrient-rich cereal grasses that Mother Nature has to offer will continue to grow. Certainly it has stood the test of time. 
The first PINES Wheat Grass bottle
from spring 1977
