Dave Christensen, a regular attendee at the Big Timber SDA church, did not start out to change the world, so he never dreamed how his life would turn out. Dave grew up in rural southern California, working on his uncle’s large ranch from time to time. Growing into his late teens, he ended up at an agricultural college (Cal Poly), after which he enlisted in the Air Force. A few years later, he met some guys in Indiana who were developing a hobby of making Old Western / Frontier costumes—Dave even learned to tan buckskin (hides) from the Indians.

When he got out of the service, Dave and his family moved to the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. Their goal was to live off the land and to feed themselves. So they started a garden, and tried to find early-maturing corn varieties for northern Montana’s short growing season. He began talking to older guys in the area, who introduced him to “squaw corn,” which came from some of the first homesteaders in the region who originally procured their corn from the Mandan Indians.

Dave discovered that an astounding 75% of the world is turning into desert, and poor families / small farmers around the globe are facing severe crop-growing conditions and food shortages. Colder climates also pose a problem due to short growing seasons. He strongly felt that people trying to survive in these environments need crops that can withstand severe climate challenges.

One thing led to another, and Dave found himself cross-breeding different lines of corn using natural breeding methods. This expanded until his organic farm evolved into a 16-acre operation known as SeedWeNeed®, which includes 5 lines of heirloom corn (see attached summary table). Over the years, Dave has developed some of the most drought-resistant, early-maturing, high-producing corn varieties in the world—corn that does not even need irrigating!

He has been continuously refining these genetically-diverse lines from dozens of stress-hardy native American heirloom corn varieties that have been grown for centuries in arid regions of the western United States (and Canada)—from the 8,000-foot mountains of New Mexico to the north side of the Black Mesa in Arizona. Dave included at least 70 different lines into his founding population, the Painted Mountain Corn.

What is unique about his corn lines is that while the plants are fairly short—only about 4-6 feet tall—they typically produce large, 7-10 inch cobs! Even in Montana’s northern climate they mature to dry, harvestable seed grain 100 days after planting, which is basically unheard of in the north. This is a great advantage in areas with harsh growing seasons. Most of these corn varieties cannot be machine harvested, but this is not a problem for the people groups Dave has been developing the seeds for (poor families/farmers).

The high protein content of his corn lines (12%-14% compared to 8.5% in modern “dent” corn) also provide extremely high nutritional values. Most people on the edge of starvation around the globe cannot afford animal products (or even legumes) as sources of protein, so they are reduced to consuming starches and the low-protein relief corn that the United States sends hungry people all over the world. Corn is the most-grown grain in the world, so these native corn types are providing sustainable crops and high-quality food for under-nourished families.

Another amazing quality of these native heirloom corn lines is their dark, colorful pigments called “anthocyanins.” These substances have strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging and anti-cancer healing properties. “Food is medicine!” says Dave. And he asserts that the Montana Morado Maize has so much purple pigment that the kernels look black (and are at least 30% higher in antioxidants than other blue corn varieties).

“The pigments—the anthocyanins—in corn have tremendous healing power,” said Dave in an interview with Acres U.S.A. “I had a blood panel recently, and previously I hadn’t eaten a lot of my own corn, even though I should have. But for two months prior to my blood panel, I ate my own black corn every day, and I stopped taking the statin that the doctor had prescribed. He didn’t know I’d stopped taking it that year, and he said, ‘Look what I’ve done for you—I’ve made you into young man!’ My cholesterol [was] down below 200. . . . My PSA for prostate was 12, and it dropped to 4. They had never heard of that. . . . I’ve [now] got the blood panel of a young man, and I’m 81.” (1)

Because these native corn seeds are cultivated to possess incredible genetic diversity, they are able to thrive in many different growing conditions. The seeds can be replanted—in contrast to hybrid corn varieties—and they adapt more to their new locations every year. They can be grown in nitrogen-depleted soils and still achieve good production levels. This suggests that these corn plants, which thrived under extreme stress for centuries, likely have the ability to produce their own nitrogen through symbiotic relationships with microbes in the soil.

The experience of one Kansas farmer (2025) illustrates the amazing potential of this corn. In the past, he saw a mere 3-5% yield on his industrial corn because of low rainfall and high summer temperatures; his modern GMO hybrid corn only produced little yellow cobs. But the farmer successfully grew large cobs from Dave’s Native corn types. All lines of corn had the same rainfall, and the modern corn got more nitrogen, but the yield was significantly different!

These native corn lines have been tried all over the world. Dave has received letters of thanks from every continent. In the early 2000’s, he traveled to the cold mountainous climate of North Korea where the people could not grow corn—the only thing they could grow was a primitive, local barley. But when they tried Dave’s native corn, it produced 3 times more than the barley crops!

Dave’s innovate, one-of-a-kind work is creating agricultural breakthroughs in many problematic regions of our planet. He views these efforts as part of practical ministry, in which he hopes to support small farmers, families and mission projects working in places where dependable food production is not always certain.

Anybody can raise this corn—you never know when it might come in handy to have some SUPERFOOD corn seeds to pull out of your “survival kit”! And in the volatile situation our world is in right now, God just might be providing “a table for [His people] in the wilderness.” (2)

If you Google “Corn by Dave Christensen,” you will find a whole lot more about his corn lines. These are some of the online stores you can order Dave’s seed from: Victory Seed Company (carries all 5 lines with in-depth descriptions of each one), Johnny’s Seeds (2 lines), Fedco (4 lines), Jung (1 line), and Northern Frontier Farms(Montana farmer, 2 lines).

Sources:

(1) Acres U.S.A.®, “A Heart for Hardiness,” Acres U.S.A., January 2, 2026; https://members.acresusa.com/a-heart-for-hardiness/

(2) Ellen G. White, “Our Duty in the Time of Trouble,” Early Writings, p. 56

(3) Personal Communication with Dave Christensen