GREELEY, Colo. (AP) Were it not for the grain silos, Hereford might flash across the rear view mirror, passing entirely unnoticed by most traveling motorists.

The unincorporated Weld County community sits just 2 miles south of the Wyoming state line on the northern edge of the Pawnee National Grassland. To find its exact location takes some planning Hereford is not listed on the map, nor are its neighboring farm communities.

Rebecca Talmadge, co-owner of S T Organics, estimates between 15 and 20 people call her community home.

The grain silos that mark the town's skyline belong to Talmadge and her family.

While Hereford may appear sleepy to the naked eye, its grain elevator has a far-reaching impact on the organic food market both locally and nationally.

Organic grain farmers turn to Talmadge's elevator to store their wheat, barley, oats and corn harvested in northern Colorado, southeastern Wyoming and western Nebraska. Much of this grain will eventually land on grocery store shelves, providing flour for organic breads and feed for organically produced milk.

When S T Organics took over the community's grain elevator in 2007, the Talmadges found that while many producers in the area were already farming organically, they struggled to find storage options and get certified.

The company now provides a once-elusive resource for area farmers to both store their grain and submit consultations on getting organic certification.

"The ones that didn't have storage options, they basically didn't certify organic, even though they were farming organically anyway. They just didn't do the paperwork and sold it on the conventional market," Talmadge said. "So they were losing financially because of the differences in the commodity prices."

While an organic farmer cannot guarantee notably higher prices every season, organic grains typically yield a higher market price than their conventional counterparts.

Originally posted here:
Rural Weld County finds booming business in organic grains