Local Business News
Curated news and information worth Sharing
In this section of the site you'll find news and information we come across related to local businesses in Lafayette Colorado as well as local food initiatives along the Front Range and beyond.
An Examination of Local Grain Sourcing for the Colorado Brewing & Distilling Industries
via static1.squarespace.com
Posted March 24, 2022 11:25 pm
by Paul Bonneville
Thomas Toth & Mad Agriculture have released a report examining Local Grain Sourcing for the Colorado Brewing and Distilling Industries.
This in-depth research pulls together many of the threads of the local supply chain to holistically investigate the case for regionally sourced grain.
I just saw this post from Mad Agriculture on Instagram and immediately had to post it here...even before reading the full document myself. A quick skim already verifies that the report is a treasure trove of information. The topic is very near and dear to our hearts since we want to help do our "digital" part in helping grow the regional Grain Chain out here in Colorado.
I will share this one quote from the report, which is exactly the piece we've been trying to work towards helping facilitate, in part through this site:
To move beyond that, he sees a need for greater scale and greater organization. He doesn’t necessarily envision a trade organization, but possibly a marketplace or a forum for growers or buyers to band together and create enough demand or enough supply to move the needle. “We need an opportunity to have the conversation,” he said.
We have the start of that system, the digital portion anyways, right here. We actually have made some connections recently, so we hope to have more news to share in the coming months.
Great stuff!
Locations
Boulder, CO,
United States
United States
Organizations
Policy & Legal
Advocacy & Education
Farming
Milling & Malting
Business networking
Colorado Wheat Farmers Seeing Prices Surge: ‘Prices Have Almost Doubled’
via KCNC-TV CBS Channel 4 Denver
Posted March 21, 2022 12:05 am
by Paul Bonneville
According to the National Association of Wheat Growers, every time you buy a loaf of bread only 17 cents goes back to the farmer. Chandler Goule, CEO of the lobbying group, said the uncertainty for the farmers is just now sprouting.
With Russia providing a large share of fertilizer to farmers across the globe, as well as Russia and Ukraine providing 30% of the world's wheat, demand for wheat and the cost of inputs to grow it are on the rise.
What I am again realizing is that I don't have any immediate access to understanding the wheat supply and prices, including profits, when we look at farms that sell predominately within their own regions. Even without that info though, developing local and regional grain chains to enable and bolster local food systems is a smart investment on a number of levels.
I will say that we hope to be able to contribute to building digital tools for developing grain "exchange" marketplaces that can bring grain buyers and farmers together in 2022.
Dry Storage's Milling Mission Goes Far Beyond Colorado
via Westword
Posted March 13, 2022 10:38 pm
by Paul Bonneville
The farm planted fifty acres that first year. "We weren't going to have a company unless the grain grew," Whitaker remembers. "I didn't even incorporate [Dry Storage] until after Sarah called me and said, 'We're going to have a harvest.'"
Great read and a current update on ongoing work on at least one chunk of the Grain Chain here in Colorado being built out by Kelly Whitaker and Dry Storage.
We actually had a chance to chat with Sarah Jones the other day and the conversation was very inspiring. Being able to connect with local farmers (four hours away is still local in the Grain Chain 😉) and hear their perspectives on the realities of growing a Grain Chain when there is limited infrastructure is very eye-opening in terms of the amount of work to be done.
Locations
Boulder, CO,
United States
United States
Organizations
Baking
Food & beverage creation
Advocacy & Education
Milling & Malting
Farming
Farmers Struggle to Keep Up With the Rising Costs of Fertilizer
via Modern Farmer
Posted March 9, 2022 10:59 pm
by Paul Bonneville
“It’s like we’re finally seeing all the hard work and time pay off,” he says, noting that, this past year, he set a new record for corn at 298 bushels per acre while using the lowest fertilizer inputs to date. “When you make these decisions, you have a hard time seeing the changes all of the time, but these past months, when we were able to do more with less, it feels like a homerun,” he says.
I saw the title of the article and wondered how, if at all, these fertilizer issues affect farming operations that practice organic and/or regenerative practices. This article does go into that a bit. The short of it is that, at least for regenerative farming, you can reduce your conventional fertilizer input needs, but it is in the long game where the benefits play out.
Artisan Grain Collaborative's "The Crumb" Newsletter - March 6, 2022
via Mailchimp archived newsletter
Posted March 8, 2022 10:39 pm
by Paul Bonneville
In this week’s newsletter, we bring you a profile of Seven Sundays, an AGC member who uses their popular breakfast cereal and muesli to push the needle for regional grains. We’re also re-sharing insights on Ukraine’s influence on the world’s bread wheat and links to AGC members who have joined the work of fundraising for humanitarian efforts.
If you are not on the Artisan Grain Collaborative (AGC)'s newsletter...go sign up now. 😄 Their newsletters typically feature their members, and their members have interesting stories to share and be inspired by.
We also have a lot of interesting Grain Chain stories here in Colorado, so I always come away looking at what AGC has done as an organization and know that we have the potential to share those stories and make more connections in our region as well...what to do, what to do...🤔
Organizations
Rare kinds of coffee, wine, and other foods could go extinct
via Vox Media
Posted February 3, 2022 10:27 pm
by Paul Bonneville
Of the hundreds of thousands of wheat varieties that farmers once cultivated, for example, only a handful are now farmed on a large scale, he told Vox.
While there is not too much information on ancient grains or wheat in general in this interview-based article, it is still an interesting read overall.
The lack of diversity that is sounding alarms for our food systems across the globe is due to a handful of large companies growing narrow and specific type of seeds and crops. These crops, often GMO, that, while beneficial to generating mass quantities at scale, come with a plethora of negative side affects ranging from business and environmental to cultural and health impacts.
Haven't read the book, but adding it to the list :)
Regional and local food is definitely one of the answers to a slew of current social problems, but all of this reading and research I've been doing over the past several months makes one things very clear. This will not be easy, but there are signs across the country within a number of growing regional food movements, that it is very possible.
People
Advocacy & Education
Boulder County removes GMO ban to Open Space farmers’ delight
via The Colorado Sun
Posted January 13, 2022 12:20 am
by Paul Bonneville
Some of the open space was dedicated to heritage wheat as an experiment, Foster said by way of example. Some varieties of pre-engineering heritage wheat have lower gluten or other qualities prized by bakers. A farmer grew heritage wheat on 40 acres. “And the wheat that was produced off of those 40 acres was greater than the entire demand for heritage wheat in the state of Colorado,” Foster said. Other experiments included pinto and garbanzo beans, and other small-acreage crops.
Aside from the GMO conversation here, which is an entirely separate topic, the comment above about heritage wheat demand caught me by surprise. Not that I can contest the comment, but I have not come across any articles or bulletins here in Boulder County about the wheat having been grown at all. When I reached out to the county about who grew the wheat, I was told:
There were several varieties of heritage wheat grown in 2020 and one variety (Rouge de Bordeaux) grown in 2021. I don’t know if there is any of the wheat remaining or whether the tenant plans to plant more next year, usually we talk to the tenants a bit later in the spring about their planting plans.
I'm still new to the Grain Chain scene here in Colorado, but it does seem a bit fractured at the moment. At the very least, I am not privy to the grain market. Makes me a bit envious of what other regions in the country have going on, but also inspires me to help out in my region where I can.
Locations
Boulder, Boulder County, CO,
United States
United States
Marketing & Promotion
Advocacy & Education
Farming
Common Grain Alliance starts Growing Grain Blog
via Instagram
Posted January 6, 2022 6:33 pm
by Paul Bonneville
We are very excited to share one of our first new projects of 2022: the Growing Grain Blog with Heather Coiner of @littlehatcreek!
The Common Grain Alliance serves the Grain Chain in the Mid-Atlantic area and is very well established in their region. Excited to start seeing more thought leaders we can learn from coming onto the scene, although from what I've read, Heather has already been on the scene for a while 😄.
One big factor for me with any sort of grass roots initiative is that it is people, not organizations, that bring about change. Organizations facilitate the changes that are driven and implemented by people. That is why I love to come across specific people in the Grain Chain, not just new organizations.
People
Organizations
Connections
Advocacy & Education
Business networking
Beginning Farmers, Farmers of Color Outbid as Farmland Prices Soar
via Civil Eats
Posted January 4, 2022 7:54 pm
by Paul Bonneville
In 2020, there was a 6.8 percent increase in residential land sales, which the Realtors Land Institute and National Association of Realtors consider to be “underpinned by strong home-buying activity.” This coincided with an uptick in farmland real estate value by 7 percent across the country between June 2020 and June 2021, according to a survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
I've brought the topic of land affordability up recently, so this piece carries on the conversation. You can see it here in Boulder County, Colorado just as well as anywhere. It is definitely a bit disillusioning when you want to see local and regional food systems be able to grow only to discover more and more obstacles the deeper you look.
There are definitely a number of initiatives underway on addressing the land issue, but one of the major challenges that I see are the sheer number of nonprofit organizations and government funded programs that are trying to work on it. Is there really no creative way to balance a reasonably profitable (that is a loaded term) business model that doesn't need to be subsidized? I ask the question somewhat rhetorically, because I believe we can, but I'm still new to the agricultural space :)
Local businesses offer food to Marshall Fire victims
via KUSA NBC Channel 9 Denver
Posted January 2, 2022 11:32 pm
by Paul Bonneville
On Sunday, Boulder-based Farm Eats Direct (FED) food truck and Moxie Bread Company in Louisville worked together to offer food to those who are displaced. FED offered frittata, grilled cheese, soup and other warm meals to those in need. Moxie provided bread, which was prepped the day the fire broke out. The bakery also offered coffee, nuts, and lasagna, and planned to make pizzas to hand out.
This story will seem like a bit of an aside, but on December 30, 2021, the Marshall Fire tore through parts of Louisville and Superior Colorado, destroying nearly 1000 homes and businesses. We live in Lafayette Colorado (Louisville is our neighbor to the west) about 4 miles from where the fire finally stopped spreading when the unusual hurricane force winds which propagated the fire across our drought stricken suburbs finally subsided.
Moxie Bread Co. and Andy Clark, both in Louisville and covered in this article and video clip, are a cornerstone in the Grain Chain out here in Colorado. We need more Andy's, Moxie's, Donna's and FED's in times like these.
Locations
Louisville, CO,
United States
United States
People
Organizations
Advocacy & Education
Baking
Food & beverage creation