Production, Milling and Marketing of Arid-Adapted Heritage Grains in the Desert Borderlands to Increase Food Security

View the project final report

Commodities

• Agronomic: corn, wheat

Practices

• Crop Production: cover crops, irrigation
• Education and Training: demonstration, farmer to farmer, on-farm/ranch research, workshop
• Farm Business Management: feasibility study, value added
• Production Systems: organic agriculture
• Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems

Cereal grains are the dietary foundations for most people in the United States. Despite this, local production and processing of regionally-adapted cereal grains is a missing element in the efforts of most Western communities to increase their food security and offer staples to low-income populations at risk of hunger. We have therefore initiated a collaborative effort among small-scale producers, food banks, millers, chefs and professional agricultural researchers to advance the market recovery of two arid-adapted and historically-important grains of our region, White Sonora wheat and Chapalote corn. Both are the oldest varieties in their species to reach the Arizona deserts as farmed crops, with Chapalote flint corn arriving roughly 4,200 years ago, and White Sonora soft bread wheat arriving with Spanish missionaries more than 320 years ago. Both suffered declines in cultivation as water- and fertilizer-responsive varieties took precedence in irrigated agriculture in the Southwest. In addition, both became unavailable in the marketplaces of Arizona and adjacent areas of Mexico by 1975; although they survived in governmental, university and non-profit seed banks because of their reputation for drought tolerance and yield stability.

After their historic decline had already occurred, a renewed interest among food and hunger activists, artisanal bakers, millers and brewers for heritage grains has created strong demand for both heirloom maize and wheat varieties with distinctive tastes, textures and baking qualities. New strategies for niche marketing of value-added heritage products have generated sustainable business models focused on reducing inputs relative to yields. These efforts have catalyzed the revival of small- and medium-scale grain production in Washington, Oregon, California and Montana.

We propose using their successes (and knowledge of their setbacks, barriers to widespread adoption and challenges) to revive the production, milling, distribution and marketing of the oldest extant grain varieties adapted to the arid Southwest. We wish to articulate the best practices of using these grains to increase our region's food diversity, food security and resilience in the face of climate change. We will largely focus on involving small-scale beginning farmers, as well as low-income tortilla makers and bakers in the proposed Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area, where unemployment rates currently exceed 20%.

To accomplish these goals, five producers in Arizona have initiated a collaborative effort that includes a seed conservation and research organization (Native Seeds/SEARCH), a food bank and associated production farm (Community Food Bank of Tucson), an artisan-scale miller (Hayden Flour Mills), two regional heritage food marketing and promotion non-profits (Santa Cruz Valley Heritage Alliance and Cultivate Santa Cruz), an historic preservation and education site (Tubac Historical Society at Tubac Presidio State Historic Park), and a sustainable agriculture demonstration site and training center at a non-profit eco-village (Avalon Organic Gardens and EcoVillage).

We propose that an integrated farm-to-table heritage grain revival strategy, involving constituents at every phase in the food supply chain, is the best way to ensure that market recovery gets these staple grains into the hands and mouths of the poor, as well as in the hands and processors of local, small-scale entrepreneurs.

Incidentally, two of our sites (Avalon Organic Gardens and Tubac Presidio State Historic Park) may be on the very ground where Jesuit Father Eusebio Francisco Kino first introduced White Sonora wheat to Arizona, and the Community Food Bank's two farms are within a few miles of where the oldest Chapalote-like maize was found in the U.S. These stories will provide us with compelling narratives to use in marketing the wheat flour and its value-added products, ones which use community pride in our ancestors' capacity to be food-self-sufficient in an arid land to inspire new efforts to do the same.

Our overarching goals are to:

(1) re-introduce Chapalote corn and White Sonora wheat into sustainable food production regimes in the arid Southwest;

(2) establish fruitful exchanges regarding innovations in production, input reduction, harvesting, processing and marketing among producers and millers so that all can benefit from newly-emerging insights;

(3) ensure that the use of these heritage grains reaches food-insecure families in our region, and that they are enlisted in producing value-added products from this grain as new sources of income; and

(4) ensure that educational, heritage preservation and food security non-profits are integrated into the project as a means to guide its destiny and support farmers in their efforts to make these grains locally available for the first time in decades.

We have four overarching goals, which will be accomplished by the following objectives:

(1) Reintroduce Chapalote corn and White Sonora wheat into sustainable production in the arid Southwest by:

a. Distributing a shared seed stock of these varieties to all farmers to compare planting densities, production costs, yields and grain quality, while saving seed to share with additional growers. (June-September 2012, 2013: Chapalote; November-June 2012-2014: White Sonora wheat.)

b. Documenting strategies for reducing water use and enhancing soil fertility and moisture-holding capacity applicable to the production of these heritage grains (entire period).

c. Testing seed from our harvests for protein content, dough elasticity and texture to assess whether differences in production methods affect food quality and utility (November 2012, 2013; June 2013, 2014).

(2) Establish fruitful exchanges regarding innovations in production, input reduction, harvesting, processing and marketing among producers and millers so that all can benefit from newly-emerging insights by:

a. Providing scholarships to farmers, millers and bakers for the Native Seeds/SEARCH six-day Grain School so that their knowledge can be shared and augmented (one session per year, date TBA).

b. Sharing (anonymously) spreadsheets of production costs, grain yields and milled flour yields so that producers and millers can equitably set initial price points (November-December 2012, 2013; July-August 2013, 2014).

c. Sharing printed and online texts about the history, sustainability, nutritional value and uses of these heritage grains, so that any farms or organizations can upload and adapt collaboratively-written educational and promotional materials on their own websites (November 2012–June 2013).

(3) Ensuring that these heritage grains reach food-insecure families in the region, and that they are enlisted in producing value-added products from this grain as new sources of income by:

a. Paying grain producers an initial stipend to provide a portion of their harvests at a discount to low-income families interested in selling artisanally-made tortillas, tamales, atole, pinole or breads made from these grains (January-February and May-July 2013, 2014).

b. Ensuring that some of the harvests go directly to low-income food bank users (November-December 2012, 2013; May-June 2013, 2014).

c. Obtaining feedback from tortilla-makers and bakers on the acceptability, usability and affordability of these grains to advance their own livelihoods (November-December 2012, 2013).

(4) Ensuring that educational, heritage preservation and food security non-profits are integrated into the project as a means to guide its destiny and support farmers in their efforts to make these grains locally available for the first time in decades. This will be achieved by integrating the promotion of these heritage grains into planned events.