Northarvest works with an agriculture, health and nutrition communications firm Communique to provide dietitians, nutritionists and consumers with up-to-date information along with strengthening the promotion of dry beans as a delicious and nutritious lifestyle. This partnership provides the following nutrition research and promotion:

  • Northarvest budgets for the Dry Bean Health Research Program (DBHRP) which continues to fund $20,000 grants for scientific research projects intended to identify the health benefits of dry beans. Communique administers the DBHRP and they have reported that there have been $545,000 in awards that have yielded $7.7 million in funding. This includes$6.5 million in major awards and $1.2 million in smaller awards. Applications are scored by a peer review panel and award decisions are made in consultation with scientific advisor Dr. David Allison and a representative of Northarvest.
  • Communique emails “The Bean Bites” weekly on behalf of the NBGA/The Bean Institute to more than 5,600 dietitians and nutritionists. The Bean Bites contain one “bite-sized” piece of edible bean material that is informative, easy-to-read and also written by a registered dietitian.
  • Northarvest also supports the continued development, maintenance, and addition of new content to the Bean Institute website. Communique’s services include monitoring of the web and keeping it fresh, responding to visitors’ questions and requests, adding all materials as they become available, updating newsletter issues of the Bean Bites, and monitoring of website traffic and analyzing usage data.
Bean Bites

The social media plan developed on behalf of Northarvest by Communique is to assist in gaining maximum value for Northarvest by putting the Bean Institute social media program under the same roof as the Bean Bites and the BeanInstitute.com website. The goal is to consistently grow the Bean Institute’s online community by targeting home cooks, culinary and foodservice professionals, nutrition educators, and school nutrition professionals with timely, impactful messaging. Follow and subscribe at BeanInstitute.com.