Artisan Grain Collaborative connects buyers with growers

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Consumers and food companies that are looking for unusual ingredients often have to source these products outside of the country. Farmer and food company owner Claire Smith found this out the hard way.

Smith… “We found the ingredient supplier for buckwheat groats and millet. But a lot of times, if we needed gluten free certification, we had to go out of the country. And so for four years, I've been sourcing buckwheat from essentially China, when that money could stay, not only in the states domestic wise, but in our state.”

Smith said the Artisan Grain Collaborative is trying to make some of these connections for farmers and buyers.

Smith… “So, you know, if I, as a food brand was looking for spelt or for sorghum, I could call up the farmers and say: you have practices that I believe in. You're doing regenerative agriculture. That's important to me. Where can I buy your stuff? And that communication, that cross collaboration is so important for both our economics but also to the consumer who has been looking for more transparency where the grain that they're eating is coming from.”

Learn more at GrainCollaborative.com.