A University of Wyoming research project aims to reintroduce ancient grains into agriculture and make a profit in the process.
The Wyoming First-Grains Project aims to diversify the state’s agricultural sector by growing some of the earliest known wheat strains and encouraging Wyoming brewers and bakers to use this wheat in their products.
“We want to bring these crops to people and to build an industry around them,” said Thomas Foulke, a senior research scientist for the UW Agriculture Department and the director of the project. “There’s a lot of dubious claims about these crops, and we want to get away from the fake news.”
The project focuses on two strains of wheat, spelt and emmer, that have been cultivated by humans for more than 12,000 years. Because of this the First-Grains Project trademarked the name “Neolithic Brand” to highlight the history of their product.
“These grains, we can find evidence of people using them even before agriculture,” said Foulke. “You can use them for anything you can use wheat for. Humans have been using them for thousands of years.”
Bringing these grains up to date has been a massive undertaking, Foulke said, since these grains do not come free of their hull when threshed. This means that they need to be dehulled before they are processed, which requires a special machine. These machines have not been commonplace in the United States since the 1950s, so the project had to get one from Europe.
Finding a pesticide for ancient grains was difficult as well.
“We ran into a problem with pesticides, because nobody’s done any sort of tests to know what sort of pesticides could hurt the crop,” Foulke said. “We had to get the USDA, the federal government, to certify that we could use wheat pesticides on these crops.”
Breaking into the market has not been easy. Right now the project is targeting the wholesale market by giving out free samples of their product to Wyoming breweries in the hopes that the breweries will use it and want more. The project has already partnered with eight craft breweries, including Altitude and Coal Creek here in Laramie. They have also partnered with the Wyoming Malting Company to build an audience for the grain.
“Farmers won’t grow this stuff unless they know they can sell it,” Foulke said. “What we want to do is develop this market, going beyond just the growing of these crops. By partnering with Wyoming Malting, we can use their customer base and their expertise.”
The project also aims to build some infrastructure. Currently they are only using the wheat for brewing, but Foulke wants to start selling flour to bakeries around the state and in Colorado. They plan to build a mill in Powell, where they have the labor and technical expertise to process it.
Though their production is small-scale right now, Foulke said he feels the project is right where it needs to be and that once all the problems with the grains are solved the Neolithic brand will be commonplace in bars around the state.
