Beanfields
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Delicious, plant based, Non-GMO snacks, with beans as the primary ingredient.
Beanfields was started with a big idea - to help change the way Americans eat. Our primary goal is to help improve the global food supply by creating delicious, plant based, Non-GMO snacks, with beans as the primary ingredient.
Who would have thought that great tasting snacks could also help make the world a better place? Beanfields is a family owned, values-based company that is doing our best to support and promote global environmental sustainability, food security in the USA, personal health, and stable employment for its employees. Check out more details about how we’re CHIPPING IN below, and how you can to!
Environmental Sustainability
Most chips out there are made from either corn or potato. Almost all non-organic corn these days in the USA is genetically modified. We don’t want to support the use of genetically modified crops. Beans (also called pulses) are by far the most water efficient source of protein available. And they are also far below the 110 gallons of water needed to grow a pound of corn (source - The Water Footprint Network). Growing beans also uses far less fertilizer than other crops as they put nitrogen BACK into the soil. Pulse crops supply their own nitrogen, using sunlight to power the conversion of this atmospheric gas into a form available to plants. The result is that pulse crop production lowers agriculture’s greenhouse gas emissions from annual crop production. Beans also require half the total energy inputs of other crops!
Food Security
We want people to eat food grown more locally. This not only saves the environment from the extra transportation, it helps to ensure that our families and our neighbors will still have enough to eat even if the world goes through major changes. Can we really rely indefinitely on cheap food from overseas? What if the transportation costs skyrocket, driving the cost of imported food way, way up? Will we in the US still have the know-how and the capacity to produce enough food in enough variety to feed our countrymen?
Beans are one of the best ways to address our food security. They are easy to dry and store for long periods. They are hardy, and can be grown in many different climates. They are an excellent source of fiber, protein and starch, and they are low in fat. For example, each half-cup serving of dry beans provides six to seven grams of protein and meets at least 10 percent of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein, yet only costs about 20 cents per serving.
Personal Health
Did you know that beans are the ONLY food that the FDA lists in two different nutrition categories? Beans are BOTH a vegetable and a protein source! That’s a lot of nutrition packed into those small little bean packages!
Corn and potato – the most common chip ingredients out there – are mostly empty calories. But our bean and rice chips provide 4g of complete protein (which means that it has all of the essential amino acids in it) and 4g of fiber per serving. And if you eat a half a bag at a sitting, like we sometimes do, that’s a good portion of your daily requirements!
We also have taken great care to formulate our chips without using any of the top 8 ingredients that cause food allergies (according to the FDA).
Two of the most pressing, and fastest growing, health issues in America are obesity and diabetes. Eating a diet with a lot of beans can help address both of these! Beans are low in fat and an excellent source of fiber, protein and starch. Emerging research shows they are also dense in nutrients like folate. Research suggests that good sources of folate can help protect against certain cancers and heart disease—the leading cause of death in the United States. Beans also contain both soluble and insoluble fiber which aids in digestion, reducing cholesterol and preventing large swings in blood sugar levels. Finally, beans contain complex carbohydrates with a low glycemic index and therefore release energy slowly to the body. Foods with a low glycemic index have been identified as a way to maintain a consistent energy level and a healthy body weight. This low glycemic index makes beans a great food for people with diabetes (over 8% of the US population according to the National Institute of Health), or who are border-line diabetic – which is an alarming 35% of the population!
Other Ways We’re Chipping In
Even as we’re just getting started on our company’s journey, we are still making a point to donate chips to various charity events and causes. We've donated chips to our local public radio station, various school health education non-profits, and to several health & wellness charity events. We've supported the girl scouts and a residential program for adolescent girls. Giving back to the community and being an integral partner with our community is really important to us, and we help whenever we can.