Developing educational resources for improved postharvest handling of value-added wheat and rye on small and mid-sized farms

View the project final report

Commodities

• Agronomic: rye, wheat

Practices

• Crop Production: food product quality/safety, postharvest treatment
• Education and Training: decision support system, farmer to farmer, on-farm/ranch research, participatory research, technical assistance
• Farm Business Management: business planning, labor/employment, value added

For this project, we enjoyed working with farmer collaborators to begin to develop a variety of resources geared toward multiple learning styles to support successful post-harvest handling of food-grade wheat and rye grain for small and mid-size Midwest farms. To grow and market less common crops, farmers need wide-ranging supports, and having appropriate and detailed information about how to store and manage diverse grains following production is a critical component to farmer success. There have been limited resources made available to date on small-scale post-harvest handling procedures for these crops and we were glad to approach the topic with an emphasis on farmer-to-farmer learning and information sharing. 

During the project period, we worked with six farmer collaborators to produce a written resource (additional donor and grant funds were used to create this resource, including to pay stipends for an additional four farmer reviewers), process illustration, photo slideshow, and five on-farm video case studies capturing aspects of the post-harvest handling process. Through this process, farmer collaborators experienced knowledge gains as they described their on-farm practices in order to be able to share the information with others and provided critical feedback on the developed resources. 

At the conclusion of the grant period, the project team has produced and made publicly available foundational information about post-harvest handling fundamentals for wheat and rye. In the future, we hope to continue to produce content that goes into greater detail on these topics and features other grain crops like barley and oats, as well as pseudocereals and ancient grains. 

Virtual learning opportunities and on-farm visits allowed farmers to share with one another, expand their knowledge of post-harvest handling, and improve their ability to perform these operations on their own farms. Simultaneously, the Artisan Grain Collaborative continues to build robust support networks amongst farmers growing food-grade grains, creating ongoing opportunities through Working Group sessions and listserv dialog to encourage and enable farmers to ask questions and learn from one another in real time. 

1. Work with farmers to co-develop a written post-harvest handling resource emphasizing value-added wheat and rye aimed at small and midsize farms. 

2. Feature best practices and challenges encountered by collaborators during postharvest handling through a series of video case studies highlighting how farmers developed and modified systems to meet their postharvest needs.

3. Develop a project website to house initial and future post-harvest handling resources for food-grade grains.