We know our farmers and purchase wheat directly from them. Our extensive grower base, along with our partnership with Grain Craft, allows us to secure a stable supply of high quality wheat. We are able to ship wheat directly from farms to the flour mill which means we are able to cut out middle-men and leave more value for the farms.
Volatile commodity markets make it difficult to run a business, whether you are a farmer or a baker. Shepherd’s Grain takes control of pricing by not being affected by factors that are outside of our control. Our flour customers have found great value in operating the same way. We offer price stability over the course of the year, and upon which you can build a solid bakery business plan.
There are dozens of wheat varieties that farmers can choose to produce. For the farmer, many factors go into deciding which wheat varieties to grow, but Shepherd’s Grain farmers know that they have a short list of varieties that we will accept. Through extensive quality testing, we only accept the highest end-use quality varieties. Our wheat is identity-preserved from the farms through the milling process with Grain Craft, and this allows us to micro-manage our wheat for the highest levels of consistency. We invite our customers to enter into the collaborative process of producing the best baking flours and the resulting high-quality bread products.
They have implemented practices on their farms that are proven to be environmentally friendly. No-Till, the practice of planting crops without any plowing or other disturbance of their soils, prevents the loss of topsoil due to erosion. Clean air, clean water, biodiversity, sequestering carbon in the soils – these are all goals of our farmers. All of our farms are certified by Food Alliance in order to verify that their practices are environmentally friendly at the most progressive level.
And on the flipside – our farmers like to know where the food goes that they produce. Shepherd’s Grain gives you confidence that you are using the highest quality flour, that you are directly supporting regenerative agriculture on family farms, and we track our flour lot numbers back to the farms that produced the wheat. We invite you to realize all the benefits of making this industry more personal.