Curated news and information from across the grain world
Home is where the bread is...
via store.dailygrains.co
Posted May 31, 2023 12:03 am by Paul Bonneville
Saturday afternoon's, post events, are what we look forward to :)

"The Mill Makes Us Manresa Bread"
via YouTube
Posted December 15, 2022 12:10 am by Paul Bonneville
Haven't posted in a while, but am starting to focus back in on spending a little time researching. We're getting ready to kick into high gear with our bakery efforts next month, so I'm back to sharing so of my research here. For this post, we came across Manresa Bread

Fresh-milled flour is at the heart of what we do. It's easy to open up a bag of flour, but we believe the nuanced flavor, balanced sweetness, and greater nutrition makes the extra step worth it.
Locations
Los Gatos, CA,
United States
Organizations
Sales
Baking

“It doesn't look like much…” - Jones Farms Organics
via Instagram
Posted November 13, 2022 9:56 pm by Paul Bonneville
The comment on the post means even more when you consider we are coming into the winter months :)
Locations
Hooper, CO,
United States
Farming

Meet the Midwestern Bakers and Farmers Working to Rebuild a Local Grainshed
via Modern Farmer
Posted October 30, 2022 2:58 pm by Paul Bonneville
The Artisan Grain Collaborative is another organization that has had a lot of success in their efforts to shore up the local grain economy out in the midwest. We love to see their continued to success.

Artisan Grain Collaborative, a network of farmers, millers, maltsters, brewers, bakers and distillers, is fostering a resilient and equitable regional breadbasket.

We've got our own evolving grain collaborative out here in Colorado in the form of the Colorado Grain Chain that we actively engage with in order to foster the growing of more local and regional grain to use in our products.
Marketing & Promotion
Business networking
Advocacy & Education

Ardent Mills survey finds major consumer interest in ancient grains
via bake magazine
Posted October 9, 2022 2:18 pm by Paul Bonneville
Interesting survey that is showing a large agricultural player intersecting with local-based efforts to revive regional grain chains. I am more than happy to see a larger player move away from a focus on the usual commodity grains, but Ardent Mills' interest and involvement will hopefully not dissuade smaller scale efforts to build up local community oriented supplies of ancient, heirloom, heritage and landrace grains.

Most consumers in an Ardent Mills’ survey expressed interest in buying an item containing ancient grains, and nearly 90% said they wanted to know more about ancient grains. Denver-based Ardent Mills contacted 1,001 US consumers of the ages 18 or older online Aug. 19-23.
Locations
Denver, CO,
United States
Organizations
Farming
Sales
Milling & Malting
Processing, Logistics & Distribution

PBS12 Presents: Farm to Faucet
via PBS
Posted September 25, 2022 10:27 pm by Paul Bonneville
Doing some more homework on Colorado's San Luis Valley water issues and came across this informative video on some of the history and issues with our water out here.

The value of water holds many definitions throughout Colorado’s urban and rural communities. As the supply and demand gap continues to widen, cities look to farms and ranches for its water, how do you determine factors of fairness, equity and wealth in a way that is acceptable to all? FARM TO FAUCET is an honest look at our society’s willingness to adapt in this ever-changing climate space.
Advocacy & Education
Policy & Legal
Farming

Cultivation Station podcast: Colorado Grain Chain
via Colorado Department of Agriculture
Posted September 24, 2022 12:04 pm by Paul Bonneville
Great podcast the covers a lot of what the Colorado Grain chain is doing and how it got started.

We chat with the Colorado Grain Chain. There are many ways to work with them and grow your small business by using local grains.
Farming
Seeds
Business networking
Advocacy & Education

Douglas County commissioners meet again about controversial San Luis Valley water project
via The Colorado Sun
Posted September 22, 2022 8:46 pm by Paul Bonneville
I'll admit I don't have all the facts, but on its face, this water project seems out of sync with the reality of the water situation in the San Luis Valley.

...The project from Renewable Water Resources, or RWR, proposes pulling 22,000 acre-feet of water per year from the San Luis Valley, permanently drying up wells in the area, and transporting the water to Douglas County...

...Residents and water districts from the valley, along with politicians and leaders throughout the state, have been strongly against the project, saying there is no extra water to remove from the valley and that the project would irreparably damage the region’s agricultural community. 

I'm interested in this specifically due to the fact that there are some small grain growers down in the valley that are contributing to the revival of our regional grain chain.

That, and another article I posted a while back that shares the other side of the story: A 150-year-old San Luis Valley farm stops growing food to save a shrinking water supply. It might be the first deal of its kind in the country

Doesn't quite seem to add up.
Farming
Policy & Legal

USDA Wants Farmers to Increase Double-Cropping
via The Food Institute
Posted September 21, 2022 7:58 pm by Paul Bonneville
The fact that the USDA is encouraging this practice can be taken as a good thing beyond just food security, commodity markets and profit for the farmers. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is encouraging farmers to grow two crops on one piece of land, a practice known as double-cropping, to bolster global food supplies, which are threatened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The practice isn’t new. In parts of the South and southern Midwest, farmers have been planting winter wheat in the fall, following harvest of their summer crop, usually soybeans. The wheat is then harvested in late spring, in time for spring planting.

This article is interesting in that many of the farmers we follow that are small grain growers are already double-cropping. Wheat, barley, oats, and rye are all considered small grains, among others, and it is the classification that the various ancient, heritage, heirloom and landrace grains we use fall into.

To take it one step further, double-cropping is a step in the direction of regenerative farming practices that alternates crops on a farmer's land into order to regenerate nutrients in the soil. One crop may use up certain nutrients during one season, another crop in the same location can put it back. An oversimplification to be sure, but you get the idea.
Advocacy & Education
Farming
Policy & Legal

Organic farming finds its niche: Boulder County remains proving ground for healthy, pesticide-free production
via Daily Camera
Posted September 18, 2022 9:38 pm by Paul Bonneville
Boulder County definitely has a strong local food system, and I don't think it is a stretch to say that county-based agricultural efforts have definitely helped things out. I have not seen the acreage numbers for farmland in the county, so this is one of the things that caught my eye. Some of our local farms are evening growing heritage grains as part of their crop rotations, like Aspen Moon Farm who is also mentioned in the article.

Alexander said the county leases 16,000 acres of irrigated farmland. The majority of that goes to conventional farmland and one large-scale operator, Dave Asbury of Asbury Farms, who ships much of his produce to Whole Foods stores. But a decent chunk of that irrigated farmland does go to the small-market organic farms now scattered across the county. The county’s goal is to lease 20% of its farmland to organic producers: Meeting that goal would mean leasing 3,200 organic acres. The county remains 1,260 acres short, according to information dated 2014 on its website.

Some of our local farms are evening growing heritage grains as part of their crop rotations, like Aspen Moon Farm who is also mentioned in the article. They've grown durum for Pastificio for at least a couple of seasons if I'm not mistaken.
Organizations
Sales
Policy & Legal
Advocacy & Education
Farming