Featured Farmers
Jones Farms Organics
Owners/Managers: Michael & Sarah Jones
Location: Hooper, Colorado
Area planted: ~40 acres
Varieties: Wheat: White Sonora; Rye: Wrens Abruzzi
Product: Off-combine grain, cleaned grain, mill-ready grain
About: Jones Farms Organics is a fifth generation family farm located in the San Luis Valley of Colorado. Michael and Sarah—along with their three daughters—are the latest generation to help run Jones Farms Organics.
Before they became full-time farmers, Michael and Sarah met in college in Seattle, then moved out to Boston and eventually Denver, where they were immediately immersed in the city’s vibrant food scene. As they made their way through Denver’s dazzling roster of restaurants, they noticed the demand for a few specific, unique, and up-and-coming ingredients: niche potato varieties and heritage grains. They brought their findings to the attention of Michael’s farmer father, Rob, unwittingly beginning a transition into full-time farming the new crops themselves. Michael and Sarah now have their own plot on the Jones family’s land where they grow specialty potatoes, pasture-raised chickens, and White Sonora wheat.
The Jones’ are particularly passionate about consumer and environmental health, and for this reason they are actively working to transition their farm from organic to regenerative organic. Utilizing techniques such as cover cropping, low tillage, and a diverse crop rotation (comprising wheat, sunflowers, mixed cover crops, and potatoes) to improve soil health and conserve water, they are a prime example of how farming differently can contribute to healthier communities and ecosystems. Jones Farms Organics has strong relationships with Front Range grain buyers, and if you eat out in Boulder or Denver, there’s a good chance you’ve tasted the breads, pastries, and pizzas made from their White Sonora wheat.
MASA Seed Foundation
Owner/Manager: Rich Pecoraro
Location: Boulder, Colorado
Area planted: ~1 acre
Varieties: Barley: Australian Bald, Chilga Arpa, Dolma, Ethiopia, Excelsior, Gangle, Kamugi, Purple Dolma, Sunshine, Tibetan Rinpoche; Oat: Buff, Laurel, Nuprina, Tesuque; Wheat: Defiance, Einkorn, Foisy, Ghirka 1517, Hourani, Iraqi Durum, Largo, Methow, Mirabella, Pima Club, Rusak, Sin El Pheel
Product: Seed
About: MASA Seed Foundation is a non-profit seed saving organization and farm located in East Boulder, Colorado. The operation was founded by master seedsman and farmer, Richard Pecoraro, who has been a seed saver working in organic agriculture for over 40 years. Before starting MASA, Richard helped launch the nation’s first 100% organic non-hybrid seed company, Seeds of Change. A few years later, he branched off to start a regional, organic seed and vegetable producing enterprise in Gila, New Mexico called Abbondanza (“abundance” in Italian) Organic Seeds and Produce. The project was highly successful, and after 5 years Richard moved to Boulder to expand upon the concepts from Abbondanza and apply them to the Front Range, beginning the work of MASA Seed Foundation.
MASA’s overarching purpose is to build a bioregional seed bank, form a multi-demographic seed growers cooperative, distribute organic seeds and produce, and facilitate educationally-driven volunteer programs on alternative agricultural methods. The farm specializes in small-scale production for seed and grows a wide variety of crops in order to cultivate and preserve diversity. Utilizing traditional seed breeding methods for crop improvement over many seasons, the seeds that MASA ultimately produces are locally adapted to thrive in the region’s climate and soils.
MASA’s involvement in the heritage grain revival began during the Front Range grain trials in 2019. In partnership with Mad Agriculture, MASA planted and tested dozens of varieties of wheat, barley, oat, and rye to see which varieties grow best in the region’s soils. The farm continues to observe the success and failure of many varieties year after year, allowing them to regionally adapt to our environment. Their work is instrumental in informing the work of the local grain community.
Lewis Family Farm
Owner/Manager: Mark Lewis
Location: Hoyt, Colorado
Area planted: ~50 acres
Varieties: White Sonora, Red Fife, Khorasan, Blue Beard Durum
Product: Off-combine grain
About: Lewis Family Farm is a 354-acre organic farming operation in Hoyt, Colorado that grows alfalfa, hemp, ancient and heritage wheat varieties, corn, oats, peas, cover crop mixes, and honey. The farm is run by Mark Lewis, who has been heavily invested in the regenerative movement in Colorado for years. In addition to operating the farm, he currently serves as the Board Chair for Mad Agriculture and an Advisor to the Perennial Fund, as well as the Managing Partner for Trailhead Capital, an investment group that invests in regenerative agriculture entrepreneurs.
Mark’s journey into agriculture and regeneration began in college, where he developed an interest in environmental work. His first job was in renewable energy working for a biodiesel company, and then he went on to work in solar investment with his family. But as Mark continued to study climate science, he realized that renewable energy technologies couldn’t solve the problem of removing the existing excess carbon in the atmosphere. While looking into the potential of carbon capture technologies, Mark came across regenerative agriculture and saw an immense opportunity to use a nature-based solution to sequester carbon in our soils. He convinced his family to purchase a mid-size farm in 2013 and immediately started experimenting with regenerative techniques on the land, including composting, perennial cropping, cover cropping, crop rotations, and livestock integration. Today, the Lewis Family Farm mission is to be an exemplary carbon farm, contributing to the mitigation and reversal of climate change while producing delicious, nutrient-dense food in the process.
Through his board position at Mad Agriculture, Lewis brainstormed with Phil Taylor for many years on ways to build the revolution in agriculture. He was involved in discussions around ancient and heritage grains from the beginning, and the decision to incorporate Lewis Family Farms into the Grain Trials was an easy one. Today, Lewis sees the grains grown on his farm as part of a regional effort to decommoditize crops, preserve the identity of premium products, feed local people local and healthy grains, diversify and strengthen our seed banks, obtain premium prices for farmers, and right-size our regional infrastructure.