Roy and Emily Pfaltzgraff know drought is part of farming in Eastern Colorado.

"You're always two weeks away from a drought," Roy says. "We don't get a lot of moisture. We get a lot of wind and a lot of heat."

His family has been dryland farming near Haxtun since the 1950s, and that reality has shaped how they farm. Rather than simply reacting to dry years, the Pfaltzgraffs have spent the last decade experimenting with grain varieties that can produce with less rainfall. This year, as drought affects 93% of Colorado, those long-term trials have left the family better prepared for challenging conditions.

"The reason we experiment is so, when these conditions start to happen, we already have a solution," Pfaltzgraff explains.

For Roy, preparing for drought has never been about waiting for the weather to improve. It's about rethinking what belongs in Eastern Colorado's fields.

When he returned to his family's farm in 2017, he knew the operation needed to change.

"My agreement was that we couldn't keep doing what we were doing," Roy relates. "It wasn't successful."

Instead of relying on the traditional wheat that has long dominated the High Plains, the farm began testing crops better suited to Colorado's increasingly hot and dry climate. Today, PFZ Farms grows between eight and twelve crops each year, including millet, oats, sunflowers, grain sorghum, camelina, black-eyed peas, and heirloom corn.

Emily says every new crop starts with the same question: Will it thrive without irrigation?

"Because we're a dryland farm, we're always looking for something that will do well in the arid climate that we have," she notes.

Many of those crops have roots in climates that resemble Eastern Colorado more than the American Midwest. Roy points to millet, traditionally grown in parts of India, and grain sorghum, which originated in sub-Saharan Africa.

"They're very drought tolerant, and they actually like hot, dry conditions," he points out. "Those climates are very similar to what we have in the High Plains region."

That philosophy has paid off this spring.

While neighboring wheat fields have struggled through months of heat, drought, and damaging freezes, the crop diversity at PFZ Farms disperses the impacts of weather.

"We always keep an eye on the neighbors' fields," Roy says. "This was a really good year to not raise wheat." Warm temperatures in March stressed many wheat fields before late freezes threatened developing heads, potentially leaving plants that continue growing but produce little or no grain.

Even with the diversity, PFZ's crops haven't escaped the dry conditions.

The farm seeded oats in March and without rain, the seed simply sat in dry soil for weeks.

"They should have come up within a week," Roy explains. "They should be almost knee high. Currently they're about three inches tall." After recent rainfall, the oats finally emerged and are beginning to recover.

The delayed emergence underscores why crop diversity has become one of the farm's biggest risk management tools.

Millet, for example, has a growing season of roughly 90 days. If another crop fails early in the summer but rains arrive in July, Roy can still plant millet and harvest it before fall.

"If we have a crop failure in June and it rains in July, we can still seed millet," he notes.

The Pfaltzgraffs are also investing below the soil surface.

Since Roy returned to the farm, improving soil health has become a central focus. Years of diverse crop rotations and reduced tillage have increased the farm's organic matter to roughly 2.5 to 3 percent—well above the regional average of around one percent or less. Organic matter acts like a sponge, helping soil store both water and nutrients.

"I've kind of said each percent of organic matter is a week we can go without rain," Roy says.

Roy describes PFZ Farms as "more of a research farm" than a traditional production farm. While universities often study crops through short-term grants, the Pfaltzgraffs test new grains over many years under real farming conditions.

"We're doing the research that colleges can't do," he adds.

That work has attracted attention beyond their own operation. As drought intensifies and groundwater restrictions increase, Roy says more farmers have begun calling for advice when they have a well that’s about to be shut down.

He’s able to answer with recommendations.

In addition to diversified crops, PZF Farms employs a diversified business model.  With the farm being gluten-free, the obvious step was to have a dedicated gluten-free mill. Enter Haxtun Heritage Mills, an entirely gluten-free mill that Emily runs, which can guarantee traceability for those with gluten concerns.

Because many of the grains we raise store well, Roy says the mill is insulated from some of the immediate effects of this year's drought.

"We have grain in storage that we can mill," he says. "There might be some supply issues" for certain heirloom grains that are produced in smaller quantities, but the farm is able to maintain inventory to continue serving customers.

For Emily, helping consumers understand that connection between the field and the finished product is one of the most rewarding parts of the business.

She regularly visits schools to show students how grains grow, how they're milled, and how they become food.

"Education is the crux of all the businesses that we operate," she says. "We're the farm and the mill, so people can really see the whole process and understand it."

As another dry season unfolds across Colorado, the Pfaltzgraffs know they can't control the weather. But after years of experimenting with resilient crops and healthier soils, they believe they can adapt to it.

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This article is part of the Colorado Grain Chain’s series about the 2026 drought. Throughout the series, we’ll highlight the experiences of farmers, as well as CGC millers and makers.