Local popcorn industry impacted both ways by pandemic

Everyone likes popcorn. So much so, that Jan. 19 has been dedicated to this popular snack as National Popcorn Day.

The oldest known popcorn kernels found were carbon dated to be about 5,600 years old, according to “Popcorn for the People.” Native Americans would bring popcorn “snacks” to meetings with the English colonists as a token of goodwill during peace negotiations.

In the 1800s, Americans consumed popcorn as a breakfast cereal. It was eaten with milk and sweetener.

Today, Americans consume approximately 17.3 billion quarts of popcorn annually with the average American eating almost 70 quarts of popcorn every year.

The U.S. provides 85% of popcorn to global sales.

But of all the states that produce popcorn, Nebraska grows the most popcorn — providing over one quarter of the national production of popcorn.

There are some notable popcorn businesses in the local area we can boast of.

Local popcorn industry

AK Acres Popcorn Co. in Imperial and Jack’s Bean Company LLC of Holyoke have been supplying popcorn throughout the U.S., Mexico and overseas for several decades.

AK Acres began in the early 1980s as an extension of the farming operations of Dennis Kunnemann and his father Arnold Kunnemann, as described on the website.

Once realizing the huge potential of popcorn production in southwest Nebraska, they decided to devote their time exclusively to contracting, processing and marketing high quality bulk popcorn.

Dennis’s son, Seth Kunnemann, has been working at the plant since high school. He took over as president two years ago and is now overseeing the day-to-day management of the local plant.

“AK Acres operates primarily as a worldwide bulk popcorn wholesaler. The majority of our customers are distributors, packagers, snack food retailers and poppers who purchase our popcorn in bulk,” Seth Kunnemann said.

Jack’s Bean Company is located in Holyoke but owned by two farmers in North Dakota. They are best known as a grain and edible bean wholesaler.

General manager of the Holyoke plant is Tom Harmon who has worked for the company since the early 1980s.

Both AK Acres and Jack’s Bean Co. work with farmers who grow popcorn for them on a contractual basis, said both Harmon and Kunnemann.

Contracted growers for both companies are located in Nebraska and Colorado with Jack’s Bean also contracted with growers in Kansas.

Popcorn farmers haul the popcorn to the plants by truck where the popcorn goes through a similar and rigorous cleaning and sorting process.

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