Sossaman Farms is a family farm and has been in operation in Queen Creek, Arizona since 1919. They farm and manage approximately 800 acres, which includes 500 production acres of heritage grains and alfalfa. Sossaman Farms currently grows heritage grains on 60 acres of its total 500 production acres. Hayden Flour Mills and Grain R & D are both located on Sossaman Farms.
This grant will be used to host strategic planning and business outreach, feasibility study, business/implementation plans, and conducting a small-scale pilot test.
The Overarching Goal of this proposed program is to provide a thorough overview of the conditions and demands of the local and regional markets for grain malting and malted grain products, the equipment and infrastructure needs, and potential operational challenges and solutions to successfully operate such a business.
Objective 1: Strategic planning activities. Relevant groups (brewers, grain associations, local businesses, project team, growers, etc.) will host strategic planning meetings and decide on marketing plans.
Objective 2: Feasibility study. This includes economic, market, technical, financial, and management feasibility. Feasibility results will guide the business implementation plan.
Objective 3: Value-added processing pilot test. By working with other professionals and researchers in the grain and malting industry, the pilot test study should guide the business implementation plan and determine a suitable value-added end product.
Objective 4: Project management and federal reporting. The project team will provide all of the support listed above. We will also facilitate and provide all required federal reports to ensure all grant requirements are met for our constituents.
