Julie Soderquist entered (and won) the Colorado Grain Chain (CGC)’s sourdough competition at Roots of Renewal with one goal: to support her neighbor Steve Woodis who has been growing Kernza wheat since 2023. “I wanted to highlight Steve for the good he’s been doing for the soil,” Soderquist says.

CGC promoted the sourdough competition to introduce a conversation about Colorado grown grains to Roots of Renewal’s annual Montrose conference about the future of farming and ranching.

Soderquist and Woodis are both nearby residents, and both are volunteers of The Western Slope Soil Health Committee that aim to promote healthy growing practices. They see Kernza, a perennial wheat variety developed by The Land Institute, as part of that equation. It can be harvested for multiple years, which lessens annual tilling, allowing nutrients to stay in the soil and the soil to stay in the ground. 

“It can grow here easily,” Woodis relates. “We don’t have any real limitations in terms of climate or soil.” However, it’s still a relatively new crop, which makes it challenging to process, market, and distribute. And without a dependable market, many farmers are skeptical about producing it.

A wildlife biologist by training, Woodis worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Services (NRCS) for over thirty years. That background propelled him to experiment in the area of regenerative agriculture.

“I’m interested in the ways that agriculture can be constructive and support wildlife,” he explains.

“Because I had a day job, if something fails, I’m not going to lose the farm.”

Woodis became interested in Kernza because of its numerous environmental benefits. Its roots mimic native prairie grasses and can reach up to ten feet in length, helping to cycle organic matter, nutrients, and carbon deep into the soil. The roots are also efficient at absorbing water, which can make the plant more resilient to drought. Importantly for Woodis, Kernza also supports wildlife by providing year-round habitat.

Initially, Woodis tried to promote Kernza production, asking nearby farmers to give it a try. “They told me to be quiet and try it yourself, in not such nice words,” Woodis laughs. So he did. 

He first sowed the crop in 2023 and began to harvest in 2024. In the first season, he harvested 3600 pounds on six acres. It cleaned down to about 2,000 lbs. In 2025, from the same acres he reaped around 3,800 pounds. Going into 2026, he plans to harvest from the same six acres.

Grain needs to be stripped down to the seed to be ground into flour. But “Kernza doesn’t want to let go of the seed from the stalk, and it also likes to hang onto the [seed] hulls,” Woodis explains. Because it’s a small, light grain, it can blow through the cracks of the cleaning equipment or can crack too much during the hull separation process, which involves a hammer mill.

There’s also a lack of mills in Montrose. To process some of his flour, Woodis brought it down to Dolores, Colorado — about 125 miles away.

To make her award-winning sourdough, Soderquist ground the Kernza herself with a small mill. She has offered to mill more for Woodis, but it won’t help with larger-scale production. “There’s a gap in the processing out here,” she says. 

One solution Woodis and his wife have found is to cook the Kernza grain like wild rice. This eliminates the hulling process. It cooks quickly, within 15 minutes, and has a mild nutty flavor. But to sell Kernza in any format requires another skill — marketing — which isn’t a strong point, Woodis admits.

He gives away many of his bags of Kernza in hopes that it gains traction with bakers, brewers, distillers, and consumers. This is one of the reasons Soderquist, who is retired from a 30-year career in business, wanted to promote his growing at the CO Grain Chain’s sourdough competition.

Part of the marketing challenge, Woodis says, is framing Kernza's higher price—around $2 per pound instead of $0.50 for other types of wheat—in terms of its ecological benefit and long-term value.

To explain the price, Woodis wants to tell the story about why Kernza is better for the environment — the reduced tillage and its ability to store carbon, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and create quality wildlife habitat. He lists animals that frequent his Kernza fields: mourning doves, mallards, quail, mule deer, and meadowlarks.

But finding the right language can be challenging. Some of his neighbors aren’t interested in the benefits of carbon drawdown, and Woodis isn’t sure how much time he wants to spend educating. 

However, Soderquist sees Woodis already teaching through his actions. “He’s making an influence through his farming gradually and quietly,” she explains. “He develops enough of a relationship and starts to introduce regenerative practices.”

They’ve also started introducing Kernza baked goods at one of their Soil Health Committee field days. Recently, they served Kernza pancakes with a local producer’s sausages and locally sourced apple juice. 

And Soderquist is aiming to experiment more with Kernza sourdough. 

From the field to the plate, they’re working towards change.

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The Colorado Grain Chain (CGC) is dedicated to building the local grain economy and knows it requires rebuilding a regional system. For the past three years, CGC has been running an annual microgrant program to help get locally grown, organic grains to market.

The past two years have supported processors, distributors, and retailers, and this year, the grants are focused on growers.

Along with help from Mad Agriculture’s 2024 Regenerative Catalyst Fund, the CO Grain Chain is offering six $7,000 microgrants to help producers grow, harvest, and process grains and get them to market.