Jacob Trumbull, founder of Roaring Fork Mill, was recently awarded the Greg Steltenpohl Pragmatic Visionary Award for the mill's efforts to build a more positive, plant-centric food system grounded in personal, community, and planetary health. The Carbondale, Colo., mill will use grant funds to provide early-season finance for farmers growing heirloom grain.

“It’s a healthy way to support our farming partners,” Trumbull says. “They’re our friends. We see them every day. That’s the beautiful thing about creating a local food system. Their well-being is intertwined with ours.”

Roaring Fork Mill has been a part of the Colorado Grain Chain (CGC) since its founding in 2022, and without CGC’s statewide grain economy network, “it would have been really hard to get started,” Trumbull explains. Colorado’s grain economy is built on relationships between producers, millers, makers, and consumers. As a mill, Roaring Fork, acts as a hub between those relationships—processing grain from growers and selling it to others along the chain.

"Jacob's support of the grain community is really representative of the mission of the Colorado Grain Chain to grow and connect a vibrant community-centered grain economy in the state,” says Audrey Paugh, CGC Director of Events and Development. “His recent award on a national stage demonstrates widespread interest in growing and connecting sustainable grain supply chains.”

Trumbull has always been interested in farming and food. He grew up in Ohio surrounded by corn and soy fields. His uncles raised livestock, and his mother worked as a professional baker. During college, Trumbull majored in environmental studies and sociology, focusing on how small-scale farmers were adapting to climate change by passing down traditional knowledge.

Shortly after graduating, Trumbull took a job in Vermont where he was introduced to the art of stone milling through New American Stone Mills and the benefits of heritage grains for the soil. Many heritage grains have longer roots systems that require less water and help bind the soil against wind and water erosion.  

Meanwhile, Trumbull earned a master’s in behavioral decision sciences to gain insight into why people make the choices they do in hopes of learning how to incentivise healthier habits for the climate through business.

In 2020, Trumbull moved to the Roaring Fork Valley. Although today it's known for its resort towns such as Aspen and Glenwood Springs and its beautiful scenery, “a lot of people forget that it's a farming area that dates back hundreds of years,” Trumbull shares. In fact, Glenwood Springs used to be named after a particular wheat variety that’s native to the region: Defiance.

However, the first wheat variety that Trumbull milled—in his home-grown garage setup—was Rouge de Bordeaux, a red-hued French wheat with a rich flavor favored by bread bakers.

Heirloom grain varieties generally have a more nuanced and robust flavor profile, as well as higher nutritional content. When paired with stone milling, which helps preserve flavor, Roaring Fork had rapid success. “We’re lucky to be located in a valley that really cares about the taste of the end product and sourcing local food,” he says.

“Very quickly the demand was a lot higher than we could meet in our garage, and we realized we needed to actually build a facility,” Trumbull explains. He also brought on his wife Nicole for storytelling, his mother Emily for product development, his sister Rachel as operations manager, and his cousin Zach as head of design.

CGC really supported the mill’s growth during this phase, Trumbull continues. “If we didn’t have a map of people growing grain throughout the state, it would have been really hard to get started.”

“We are really effective at helping grain-related businesses start out by connecting them to resources and connections,” explains Lisa Boldt, CGC Executive Director. “It’s really exciting to see Jacob pulling all the different aspects of the Colorado Grain Chain together in his work. He had this vision, shot for the moon, and nailed it.

“He started small but so purposeful,” she adds.

Through CGC, Trumbull connected with Jones Farms Organics in the San Luis Valley. The fourth-generation farm produces organic potatoes and grain varieties such as Ryman rye, White Sonora wheat, and millet. They are also the first Colorado farm to become Regenerative Organic Certified (ROC)—which inspired Roaring Fork to become the first ROC mill in the Mountain West in 2024.

Highlighting such practices can help shift social norms toward supporting regenerative and organic practices which can support soil, human, and environmental health, Trumbull explains. This is partly because these practices limit pesticide use, which have been proven to increase cancer risk and cause environmental pollution.

“I wish people knew what they’re ingesting when they eat conventional grains that are sprayed with pesticides and herbicides. It doesn’t all wash off, so traces are left in the food, and that’s part of what leads to gluten sensitivity,” he says.

“We’re also losing topsoil everyday, so if we continue to farm in this manner, we’re all going to be negatively impacted,” he adds. “Plus, conventional grain systems require long-distance shipping, which emits carbon and other climate change-causing greenhouse gases.”

These large-scale factors help motivate Trumbull to support his neighboring producers to adapt regenerative and organic practices. Support can look like sharing equipment that can harvest small amounts of grain or knowledge about grain varieties that haven’t done as well.

In the upcoming year, Roaring Fork plans to start farming 25 acres of their own land with heritage grains, primarily to test different varieties and ensure a climate-adapted seed bank for the Roaring Fork Valley.

Farmers care about land and care about their profit margins, Trumbull explains. Many are interested in heritage grains because “we can pay a much higher price point than what they were growing before,” he adds. Roaring Fork pays closer to 65 to 85 cents per bushel versus the typical 10 to 30 cents per bushel for conventional wheat. The grain also helps their land and supports less water use—which is especially important during a season that’s already in Stage 1 drought.

The Steltenpohl grant money will further incentivize and support farmers by financing early season purchases. Typically, many farms have to buy seeds and soil amendments on credit in the spring, because they won’t see their profit until they harvest their crops in the late summer or fall. Without crop insurance — which only applies to certain conventional crops — this can make growing heritage grain seem risky. If their crops fail, they could go into debt.

Trumbull hopes to break this cycle in his community.

“A lot of people in this day and age are craving connection, the Colorado Grain Chain bakes that idea into its mission,” Boldt says. “It’s great to have leaders like Roaring Fork Mill paving the way and ensuring that we’re all taking care of each other.