The story of Renewal Processing has its origin in Pennsylvania’s agricultural heartland where John Sensenig grew up working with and learning from his father. The lessons learned weren’t easy, but they formed a personality characterized by a genuine caring of others and a keen awareness of “doing the right things”. After getting married and leaving the home farm John continued the family’s agricultural heritage by working in local farming interests, ultimately operating his own farming business, which included poultry and hog operations, and growing corn and soybeans as a cash crop.
In 1988 a devastating fire destroyed his turkey farm, and although he re-built his business the catastrophe led John to change the way he thought about the future.
With his experience with poultry and hog farming John was intrigued with the development of lower cost feed stock, and so in 1990 he began to experiment with ways to process waste bakery products. A major aspect of this was to find ways to remove the packaging, and then grind and dry the waste product. Around the same time Mr. Ned Clark, owner of Clark’s Ag Center in Turbotville, PA, offered John an opportunity to take bakery waste from a large, local bakery and find a way to process it so it could be sold as a by-product for their cattle feed mixes. His innovation paid off. By the end of 1991, John Sensenig was processing and producing a dry bakery by-product for Clark’s Ag Center. Mr. Clark owned the equipment and the raw product contracts, and in 1994 offered to sell them to John. John’s purchase of the equipment resulted in the founding of Sensenig Milling Services, Inc.
Our foundational principles are straightforward.
- Treat our employees with respect and dignity.
- Pay fair market price for all goods and services purchased.
- Charge fair market price for all goods and services sold.
- Continuously search for new and better ways to keep food waste from reaching our landfills.
Our raw materials come from commercial bakeries and snack food manufacturers throughout the region, and through our efforts we are able to keep bread, dough, pasta, crackers, cereal, bagels, sweet goods, and snack chips out of the landfills. We can handle these products whether it’s bulk, packaged or palletized. Our finished product offers a viable alternative to grain in the animal feed industry. As our company continues to grow we are always looking for new vendors and customers as we connect our food and feed providers.
Renewal Processing is a family business that works together with their dedicated workforce to provide a valuable service to their customers, their vendors, and their community. Together they have met each challenge presented to them, from fire, volatile economic crises of commodity prices, and the ever changing nature of our global economy. Each challenge was met the only way John Sensenig knows, straightforward, with a sense of fairness, a commitment to quality, and a relentless pursuit of always doing what’s right.
As the business grew, the family decided to change the name of the business to increase market awareness of the brand that had been built. Sensenig Milling Services, Inc. is now known as Renewal Processing, Inc.
Our family’s desire is to not only renew the by-products bound for the landfill but also to see lives renewed with the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.