Farm Story : 2016 / 2017 / 2018 / 2019

ATHENA

WALLA WALLA

We approached farmers in 2015, shortly after 12,000 acres of Blue Mountain grain fields entered into Salmon-Safe's farm certification program. They were looking for a value-added way to market their grain. We were looking to build a market-based tool for water conservation. Farmers grew the grain as we tried to bootstrap a malt house. Our financing fell through and we pivoted to a supply chain management approach. 2016 was our first crop year. The crop was fantastic. With it, we brought the first Salmon-Safe certified malt to market and we carried on.