Welcome to the Northern Grain Growers Association

 

Join us for the first workshop in our exciting summer series and help us celebrate 30 years of Gleason Grains! It will be held at their farm in Bridport, VT on June 2, 2012. Please click on the link to download the PDF with more information. For a complete list of UVM Extension NW Crops and Soils 2012 Field Days and Events click here.

You can find out more about Gleason Grains by checking out their website.

Julie Dawson at Cornell University is working with organic grain growers in the Northeast who are interested in producing high-quality seed of promising varieties for organic systems. This project will start developing varieties adapted to organic agriculture in this region through on-farm selection with experienced organic farmers. If you are a grain grower and could take the time to fill out the following survey, it would help her research tremendously! Thanks.

Organic Grains Farm-Based Selection Survey

The 8th annual Grain Growers Conference on March 15th was a big success! Thank you to all those who attended, presented, and made the day a great learning experience for all! Photos and highlights from the event will be available soon!

Interested in having your grains tested at the UVM Cereal Testing Laboratory? To download and fill out a submission form for grain samples, click here!

We can test grain moisture, flour moisture, crude protein, falling number (indicative of pre-harvest sprouting activity and crucial to high-quality bread wheat), as well as vomitoxins in the form of Deoxynivalenol (DON).  Please make sure your sample is clean and dry and that you submit at least a quart-sized bag for analysis.  More information available on the submission form.

Check out the NGGA’s new YouTube channel! You can watch our videos and subscribe!
Click here.

Heather Darby and Erica Cummings were also recently on Across the Fence talking about the Northwest Crops & Soils Program’s work research on grains and hops. To watch the video, click here.

The latest in a rash of recent publicity for grains grown in the Northeast: a University of Vermont article on UVM’s research with heirloom wheat and winter wheat varieties.  Dr. Heather Darby is featured and recognized for her work, along with Roger Rainville of Borderview Farm, to revitalize the local grain movement in Vermont.  To read the article, click here.

Please take a minute to look at the VERMONT MILLED GRAINS site and our recent market study.  Participate as a grower, baker, retailer, and/or consumer.  The more feedback, the more results!

The latest research trial results from UVM Extension’s NW Crops & Soils Team:

2011 Barley Variety Trials (pdf)
2011 Spring Wheat Variety Trial (pdf)
2011 Spring Wheat Weed Control Strategies (pdf)
2011 Winter Wheat Harvest Date (pdf)
2011 Winter Wheat Variety Trial (pdf)

2010 Spring Wheat Variety Trial (pdf)
2010 Winter Wheat Variety Trial (pdf)
2010 Heirloom Wheat Variety Trial (pdf)
2010 Barley Variety Trial (pdf)

In January of 2012, a group of bakers from Maine and Vermont trialed four winter wheat varieties grown in 2011 by the University of Vermont and University of Maine.  Randy George from Red Hen Baking Company, Jeffrey Hamelman from King Arthur Flour, Jim Amaral from Borealis Breads, and Alison Pray from Standard Baking Company came together at the King Arthur Baking Education Center in Norwich, VT to test-bake local wheat flours!  The results were delicious.  Check out the photos below.

Erik Andrus, of Good Companion Bakery outside of Vergennes, VT, has been experimenting with low-tech wind power. You can find more information on the farm and bakery’s Savonius design on their website. You can also download a PDF brochure of their project here. For more information, read the full report here!

UVM Extension’s Northwest Crops and Soils Team is also involved in HOPS research. To learn more about this exciting project, and about hops production in the northeast, click here.

The Northern Grain Growers Association is a “farm grown” organization. Since 2004 many of the grain growers in Vermont have been gathering together for exchanging ideas, networking, and camaraderie. The initial focus of the group was to enhance organic seed saving, plant breeding, and variety improvement. Over time the group has developed a somewhat broader focus which includes all aspects of grain production.

In recent years the interest in local grains has been increasing and the group now includes bakers, local eating enthusiasts, agricultural support personnel, and many beginning farmers.