In 2003, Shepherd’s Grain sold its first batch of specially blended baking flour to Hot Lips Pizza, a small restaurant chain in Portland, Oregon. This initial sale was the culmination of more than three decades of wheat production experience and a healthy dose of creative thinking.
In the mid 1980s, a pair of wheat producers, Karl Kupers and Fred Fleming, became convinced that the conventional dryland wheat farming they were practicing was not sustainable in the Palouse region of eastern Washington. They set out to tackle both the agro-ecological challenge of sustainability by reversing soil erosion and soil degradation, and the economic challenge of remaining financially viable without federal commodity subsidies.
2013 Shepherd’s Grain case study (PDF)
2009 Shepherd’s Grain case study (PDF)
Shepherd’s Grain Research Brief (PDF)
