On September 8th, The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) awarded $2.3 million in Underserved, Value-Added, Regional Food Systems and Supply Chain Grants to 28 businesses across Michigan.
One of the grantees was Granor Farm of Three Oaks, which was awarded $100,000 to purchase and install a stone grain mill. The mill will ensure certified organic milled grain products and create three full-time jobs.
Established in 2006, the Berrien County farm began with children’s educational programs and later expanded into hosting farm dinners, culinary classes and a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. The farm produces over 200 varieties of organic vegetables and four grain varieties on five acres. Granor uses their programs to connect their community to the growing process, according to Executive Director Johannah Frelier, who explains why this goal is at the core of the MDARD grant.
“This connection with our raw vegetable produce ingredient and the dining program is really critical to the success of Granor Farm. And that connection is really what we were after with, the milling grant is one of the opportunities to kind of connect our grain program, which, we've been farming grain since 2014.”
Despite also having a grain program since 2014, it wasn’t until 2021 that they barreled their first batch of whiskey. Granor Farm received its organic certification in November 2011 from OnMark Certification Services and has worked to maintain high-quality organic products since.
The farm was relying on using external mills to process its grains, which nullified their efforts. Frelier elaborates, “We've put a lot of time and investment in being able to produce Certified Organic grains, but as soon as we mill them through an external miller that is not Certified Organic, they lose that label.” Frelier continues, “that's what this milling grant is going to help solve for us – that we can keep that organic label through 'til the end product.”
Frelier says that growing their grain organically with a regenerative sustainable model sets them apart from name brand whiskeys. “We really believe that in turn, that'll create a superior product that we're really proud to share with the public.”
The mill will mainly serve the distilling program, but it will also be used to make products like polenta, cornmeal and flour. All milled products will be incorporated into the farm dinners and sold in the farm store.