Community News
Curated news and information from across the colorado grain chain
Our News Feed is a place for us to share news and information about our members as well as any educational grain chain related content sourced from across the country.
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How whiskey saved this Colorado family’s 118-year-old farm
via The Denver Post
Posted October 24, 2025 9:35 am
“We had locked down all of our small grains for flavor, but we couldn’t find corn. No one would sell us local corn,” said Laws. After meeting Stephanie and distilling a few test batches, Laws Whiskey House became the Whiskey Sisters’ first client, even before they inked their brand name.
Ten years and innumerable pounds of corn later, Laws Whiskey House still uses the plump and sweet grain from Burlington. “We like to do business with people that we like and have great, ethical backgrounds,” Laws said. “We consider them like family.”
Read Full Story Here
Read Full Story Here
Our Community Eats receives $5,000 grant to support bread-baking program
via www.pagosasun.com
Posted October 24, 2025 9:38 am
This generous grant will allow OCE to purchase organic grains grown right here in Colorado for our food pantry program, The Giving Grain.
With this support, our team of bakers will begin baking fresh, nutritious bread using some of Colorado’s finest organic grains — grains that are not only rich in nutrients, but also deeply rooted in local agriculture and heritage.
Read Full Story Here
Read Full Story Here
Organizations
Colorado Grain Chain Announces Colorado Organic Grains Microgrant Program Recipients
via www.morningagclips.com
Posted October 24, 2025 9:39 am
The Colorado Grain Chain (CGC), a nonprofit organization that grows and connects a vibrant community-centered grain economy in the state, has announced recipients for the 2025 Colorado Organic Grains Microgrant Program. CGC awarded six grants, at $5,000 each, to Colorado-based businesses and nonprofit organizations working to get certified organic grain products to market. The awardees shared innovative concepts that help organic grain usage reach a larger audience and underscore the importance of organic grains in the food ecosystem.
The recipients and their project titles are as follows:
- Community Agriculture Alliance, Growing Northwest Colorado’s Organic Grain Market: Supporting Makers and Building Local Food Connections
- High Desert Bagel, Expanding Production for a Bagel Business Exclusively Sourcing Organic Colorado Grown Flour
- Our Community Eats, NOURISH Pagosa
- Pastificio Boulder, Organic Colorado Grains Make Delicious Pastas!
- Pueblo Seed & Food, Cookie Packaging Enhancement
- Rye Resurgence Project, Resurgence Rye Gin Creation Project
“We are pleased to award grants to these grain-focused organizations,” said Lisa Boldt, Executive Director of the Colorado Grain Chain. “This round of Microgrants highlights the end stage of the supply chain, supporting the makers who transform organic grains into finished products. They are the bridge connecting Coloradans to agriculture through foods and beverages made with locally grown grains, which helps the entire grain value chain grow stronger.”
Connections
Cultivating resilience: How trust-based partnerships are shaping the U.S. Northeast's regional grain economy
via www.foodsystemsjournal.org
Posted October 20, 2025 9:46 am
Behind thriving regional grain chains are strong relationships and shared values—the “soft infrastructure” that makes collaboration possible and resilience achievable. |
JAFSCD peer-reviewed article by Elise Neidecker (U of New Hampshire), Thomas Safford (U of New Hampshire), Matthew Hoffman (Landmark College), Michelle Miller (U of Wisconsin–Madison), Heather Darby (U of Vermont Extension), and Analena Bruce (U of New Hampshire)
The industrialization and commodification of grain production have led to significant environmental, health, and economic consequences. In response, regional grain value chains are emerging through collaborations among farmers, millers, bakers, maltsters, and brewers. These partnerships are part of a broader movement toward the development of values-based supply chains in the food system, where long-term, strategic business relationships are built on shared principles such as fairness, community commitment, and environmental sustainability.
In a new JAFSCD article, “Not a siloed effort”: Partnership strategies supporting regional grain value chains in the Upper Northeast, USA, authors Elise Neidecker, Thomas Safford, Matthew Hoffman, Michelle Miller, Heather Darby, and Analena Bruce, examine the key partnership strategies that sustain these values-based regional grain systems.
Corresponding author Elise Neidecker can be contacted at e.neidecker@gmail.com.
KEY FINDINGS
JAFSCD peer-reviewed article by Elise Neidecker (U of New Hampshire), Thomas Safford (U of New Hampshire), Matthew Hoffman (Landmark College), Michelle Miller (U of Wisconsin–Madison), Heather Darby (U of Vermont Extension), and Analena Bruce (U of New Hampshire)
The industrialization and commodification of grain production have led to significant environmental, health, and economic consequences. In response, regional grain value chains are emerging through collaborations among farmers, millers, bakers, maltsters, and brewers. These partnerships are part of a broader movement toward the development of values-based supply chains in the food system, where long-term, strategic business relationships are built on shared principles such as fairness, community commitment, and environmental sustainability.
In a new JAFSCD article, “Not a siloed effort”: Partnership strategies supporting regional grain value chains in the Upper Northeast, USA, authors Elise Neidecker, Thomas Safford, Matthew Hoffman, Michelle Miller, Heather Darby, and Analena Bruce, examine the key partnership strategies that sustain these values-based regional grain systems.
Corresponding author Elise Neidecker can be contacted at e.neidecker@gmail.com.
KEY FINDINGS
- Trust is foundational: Verbal agreements are often honored as reliably as written contracts, underscoring the importance of long-standing, trust-based relationships in values-based supply chains.
- Early and frequent planning: Grain processors work closely with farmers and end-users to plan crop varieties, acreage, and delivery timelines—often before planting begins. This integrated planning fosters stability in these business partnerships.
- Flexible pricing built on transparency: Prices are negotiated collaboratively, grounded in actual costs and mutual respect, in contrast to the opaque and transactional nature of commodity markets.
- Personal relationships build resilience: Many partners describe each other as friends as well as business collaborators, helping them navigate market shifts and difficult years together.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY, PRACTICE AND RESEARCH: Invest in both physical and relational infrastructure: While equipment and infrastructure investments are essential, so are convenings, educational efforts, and matchmaking initiatives. Public funding and grant programs should support both.Support Extension and nonprofit organizations: University Extension services and nonprofits play a vital role in facilitating knowledge exchange and relationship-building across values-based supply chains. These entities require sustained investment.
SHARE ON YOUR SOCIALS Behind thriving regional grain chains are strong relationships and shared values—the “soft infrastructure” that makes collaboration possible and resilience achievable. In a new JAFSCD article, authors examine the key partnership strategies that sustain these values-based regional grain systems.
Read the entire article for free: https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2025.144.024
Re-posted from the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development - News Flash, October 16th 2025
Connections
Packaging the Future: ERP & Beyond
via naturallycolorado.glueup.com
Posted October 16, 2025 1:31 pm
Join Naturally Colorado on Wednesday, November 5th at Sleeping Giant Brewing Company in Denver!
This educational session brings together industry leaders to share the latest updates on Colorado's new packaging laws, Producer Responsibility Program, and how these changes will impact CPG brands and the future of packaging.
November 5th
5:30 PM
Sleeping Giant Brewery (Denver)
Climate Smart Market Expansion - Funding Available
via Colorado Department of Agriculture
Posted October 6, 2025 5:58 pm
The Colorado Department of Agriculture is now accepting proposals for the second round of the Climate Smart Market Expansion Project. Up to a total of $120,000 is available for initiatives that increase demand at any stage of the supply chain for agricultural commodities and products raised using climate smart practices, and help develop market premiums for producers.
Food, beverage, clothing, or other manufacturers and brands that source from Colorado are encouraged to apply, as are supply chain businesses such as processors, commodity handlers, farm products dealers, buyers, and distributors.
The deadline for proposal submissions is Oct. 29, 2025.
Learn more about this opportunity: https://ag.colorado.gov/markets/markets-funding/climate-smart-markets-program
Connections
Great Chile & Garlic Experience: Sept 26-28
via farmdirectseed.com
Posted September 12, 2025 6:19 pm
Experiential Short Course Date: September, 26-28. 2025
This experience focuses on chile and garlic diversity and blends both culinary and medicinal benefits of these potent foods in a journey through fields and culinary tastings, leveraging diverse food cultures, scientific inquiry, and traditional dishes to inspire your own inclusion at home and capturing the many anti-bacterial and anti-viral benefits of these crops for health promotion and longevity.
Farm Tour with Tastings and Bakehouse Lunch Sept 27 (10AM-2PM): The Farm tour will focus on varietal chiles in the field with fresh chile tastings, chile roasting, and various garlic aiolis, roasted mud ball garlic and bread delights to sample. Lunch at the bakehouse will integrate the chiles and garlic you experienced in the field.
Bakehouse Experience Sept 28 (10AM-2PM): Sunday morning coffee/tea with morning buns will accompany an Introduction into the nutrition and health properties of garlic and chiles followed by hands-on learning in the kitchen emphasizing culinary applications and medicinal properties of working with garlic & chile at home.
Cost for the full experience includes a welcome basket, farm experience with tastings and bakehouse lunch, Sunday morning coffee with morning buns, introductory lecture, and bakehouse cooking/baking experience. Lodging is NOT included but we have partnered with the Canyon of the Ancients Guest Ranch and Ancient Echoes at Kelly Place to create one of the most beautiful and unforgettable Southwest experiences for you.
Locations
Cortez, CO,
United States
United States
Organizations
Connections
Colorado showcase features a taste of regenerative agriculture at Newtopia Now
via www.newhope.com
Posted August 14, 2025 3:19 pm
Climate Smart growers, millers and brands go back to heritage grains to fuel a healthy future. Learn about their sustainable practices and see local Colorado farmers at Newtopia Now.
From plains to peaks, some Colorado growers are feeding a movement of conversation and conservation with a local grain movement that celebrates good grains for the health of people and planet.
From plains to peaks, some Colorado growers are feeding a movement of conversation and conservation with a local grain movement that celebrates good grains for the health of people and planet.
It’s a symbiotic story that grows as an appreciation for heritage wheat and whole grains gains attention, and regenerative agriculture captures the interest of environmentally minded consumers and growers. Newtopia Now attendees can talk about the good grains and taste the changes as part of the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s Climate Smart Showcase at the Denver trade show...[Read Full Story Here].
Connections
Root Shoot blends community, sustainability into whiskey
via www.thirstcolorado.com
Posted August 14, 2025 3:23 pm
The road to creating an award-winning whiskey has been long trod by the Olander family. Todd Olander, the founder of the Colorado-based spirits company Root Shoot Whiskey, works on the farm his family has owned for five generations.
With multiple members of the Olander family assisting in the process, the Loveland-based farm has expanded from a long-standing grower of grains to the creators of their own popular whiskey.
Even with all their current accomplishments, these malting masters stay rooted in community with their love of the craft, a commitment to causes such as helping preserve farmland and combating climate change and their dedication to serving the people of Colorado.
As a generational farm, the land has served many purposes over the years, but has primarily remained a grower of grain...[Read Full Story Here].
Dry Land Cactus Spirit Wins 2023 Good Food Award
via www.drylanddistillers.com
Posted July 18, 2025 9:29 am
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The Good Food Awards win is very meaningful to Dry Land. We’ve been focused on sustainability, crafting spirits from ingredients that are appropriate to the place we live, and supporting small farmers throughout the state by helping them grow heirloom and heritage grains. Our goal is clear - to produce spirits that are authentic to the American West while helping to repair and improve our land, water and communities.