Grain, Food Systems, Nutrition: What the Health?

Date: April 27
Time: 5 - 6:30 p.m. (Central time)

Do you need more resources for talking to clients about whole grains? Join a panel of Artisan Grain Collaborative (AGC) members for a deep dive into terminology like ancient, heirloom, artisan, regenerative, and grainshed, as well as what the phrase ‘regional grains’ encompasses. Discover resources available through AGC, and the why’s that can help motivate more meaningful and thoughtful practices from the grocery store to the kitchen table.

In traditional Western medical care, there isn’t a lot of overlap between agriculture practices and health & nutrition. This panel will discuss farming practices and how they relate to our health while explaining the regional grain supply chain. Just as a diverse variety of foods is important for a healthy diet, farmers who prioritize soil health also utilize a diverse array of crops. Ensuring that farmers are able to maintain these farming practices means finding markets for their diverse crops; in turn, the customers who purchase identity-preserved grain from farmers in their region become an essential part of that system’s success.

Have you seen grains becoming a part of the local foods movement? There are some significant reasons why they’re late to the local food table, including the amount of land and large equipment typically needed to produce them, the intermediate processing required, the general acceptance of flour and grains as commodities, and longstanding agriculture policy. Increased transparency in grain sources brings accountability and acknowledgement for the dedication farmers put into their stewardship for the land. As far as processing, some local grain businesses are stone milling at low temperature to achieve optimal nutrition in flour, and reminding customers to store flour at cool temperatures, coining terms like “fresh flour” and specifically selecting flour varieties for flavor. Those factors may not occur to the average shopper grabbing bleached all-purpose from the grocery shelf, but we’re on a mission to see that change. Please join us!

CPE Level: 2
CPEU: 1.5
Performance Indicators: 7.1, 7.2, 12.4

Learning Objectives

• Introduce Artisan Grain Collaborative: who (grain chain), what we do (mission, resources: Learn/Grains 101)
• What we mean by regional grains (in a regional foodshed)
• The why: Benefits of buying local/regional grains - transparency for agricultural practices, affordability, and multiplier effect of keeping dollars (and nutrients?) in the community
• Demystifying terms: heirloom/ancient/artisan vs. commodity, regenerative, stone milled vs. roller milled

Speakers

Elena Gutierrez Byrne

Elena Byrne joined Renewing the Countryside in 2016, focused on supporting the regional grains supply chain through the Artisan Grain Collaborative, FEAST! Local Foods programming, and conservation work through Wisconsin Women in Conservation. She holds a doctorate in nutritional sciences from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and has been an avid gardener for years with her husband on their 8 acres just outside of Madison, WI. She is enjoying seeing the local foods movement capture the hearts of consumers everywhere.

Jenny Breen

Jenny Breen is a professional chef, Educator and Public Health Nutritionist. She ran a natural foods/farm to table restaurant and catering company from 1996 to 2011, and eventually studied Education and Public Health Nutrition to pursue work using food at the intersection of human, community, and environmental health and justice.

She now teaches at the University of Minnesota, and works as an independent food justice and culinary nutrition consultant.

Claire Smith

Claire is the 7th generation to be raised on the family farm in southern Michigan. Her father and grandfather have been regenerative farmers focusing on soil health and growing the traditional cash crops of the region for decades. In 2015, her father Brad decided to start growing alternative grains like teff and buckwheat. Claire founded a spin off company to make consumer packaged foods starting with teff granola calling it Teffola. Now 5 years later, Teffola is sold in 150+ stores across the country and online and just this spring launched a date & granola snack bite called Teffola Bites.