The Bread Lab, a research institution at Washington State University that focuses on local grains, was awarded a $1.5-million endowment so that it can further its work breeding grains adapted to organic farming practices, Clif Bar announced. The Clif Bar & King Arthur Flour Endowed Chair in Organic Grain Breeding & Innovation was funded by Clif Bar ($850,000), King Arthur Flour ($500,000), and members of the Skagit Valley community ($150,000), where the Bread Lab is located.
The first endowed chair was awarded to Professor Stephen Jones, who founded and heads the Bread Lab and has bred diverse grains adapted to local and organic conditions. The Skagit Valley consists of 80,000 contiguous acres of rich farmland about 70 miles north of Seattle. Skagit Valley, one of the West Coast’s few remaining agricultural valleys, produces more than 80 crops, but grains had been low on the list until recently.
“We breed grains that will work for the farmer first and foremost,” Jones said. “Then we bring that crop into the Bread Lab and decide in consultation with the farmers, chefs, maltsters, millers, brewers, and distillers what the best uses of the crop will be.”
The results have rejuvenated grain farming in the area and spurred farmers, millers, brewers, and distillers to use local grains. The model has also influenced local grain efforts in the Northeast, the mid-Atlantic region, and up and down the West Coast. To further this movement, the Bread Lab also holds an annual “Grain Gathering,” which brings farmers, bakers, millers, and others to a conference each summer in the Skagit Valley.
“Public-sector land grant universities like Washington State have seen their funding for organic agricultural research cut year after year at the state and federal levels,” said Matthew Dillon, senior director of agricultural policy and programs at Clif Bar & Co. “With the endowment, we’re putting a stake in the ground for organic’s future because we believe the Bread Lab can improve the good that organic brings to farmers, consumers, and the planet.”