Amber waves of grain are rippling across a handful of small farms in Southern Oregon. It could be a resurgence in regional production.

Eighty years ago, 41 varieties of wheat were grown on a million acres in Oregon. Small farms grew wheat. Today, there is much less wheat, and what is grown is mostly produced on the large commodity scale, as on the bigger farms in the Klamath basin. 

Since small farms in Southwestern Oregon no longer produce much locally consumed grain, almost a generation of knowledge and infrastructure has been lost. The local foods movement, and the niche marketing opportunities it affords, have led to producers' renewed interest in growing grains for the local market.

In January, 2010, a group of bakers, brewers, chefs, millers and farmers met at OSU Extension to collaborate on ways to meet consumer demand for locally-produced grain products. This meeting was the first in a series of seven classes entitled, " Growing Grains on a Small Farm."  The series, funded by a USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant, covered all aspects of grain production throughout the growing season. Each class took place on a farm in Southern Oregon and included a tour of the grain operation, as well as presentations by producers and university specialists.

The resources and links on this page are the results of that class series, as well as data from informal wheat trialing performed during the 2010 growing season.