In a group of folding tables in the Regenerate district of Newtopia nowDanielle Trotta sits among the brand owners, whom she describes as both characters and storytellers of a story that connects consumers to Colorado’s rural communities.
The project manager of the Colorado Department of Agriculture Proud of Colorado The program says that not only are the brands working with farmers to create high-value revenue streams that are vital to the rural economy, but they are also reminding consumers how important these farmers and their stories are. “I don’t think many people know what’s going on when they’re in the supermarket, but that’s where we really rely on the brands to be able to tell that story,” says Trotta, “because people are interested.”
But it’s not just the consumer in the organic section at Natural Grocers who needs to hear the story, Trotta says. The farmers in the communities her program works with are an equally important audience. While the relationship between natural product brands and farmers may be foundational, there are many uncertainties for farmers who have not been included in that relationship. “Some rural communities and farmers and ranchers are afraid to jump into it because they’re not sure if the demand for young brands will remain stable or if it’s more work to break into those markets, but in the end it pays off because once they find those markets, it opens the door to many others.”
But for all of this to happen, Trotta says the brands need to be successful. That’s why the Colorado Department of Agriculture set up the tables at Newtopia Now, a smaller trade show that’s perfect for smaller brands. “I think it’s actually good for our producers and brands because it gives them a little more visibility,” she says, noting that a smaller brand could “get lost” at a trade show the size of Natural Products Expo West.
Ten feet away from Trotta’s seat, Claudia Bouvier loves to tell stories. Standing in front of a table stacked with boxes of her Boulder brand of Pastaficio pasta, made from wheat from farms in Colorado’s San Luis Valley, she talks about how her brand “connects the story of farmers.”
“To grow, farmers need more scale, and if they only sell locally, their growth is limited,” says Bouvier, explaining that their brand is “the bridge” to markets that farmers could never reach on their own. “We’re building a community that’s not just in the San Luis Valley. It’s coming to Denver. It’s coming to Boulder, and we hope it gets even bigger as our pasta goes to different states.”
For farmers like Sarah Jones, who grows some of the wheat Bouvier uses in her pasta, that brand relationship is crucial. She doesn’t wait for brands to tell her stories. She uses the brands to tell her story. “When I’m at events, I bring a display of all the products our small family farm sources. I bring 10 different things, right? A bottle of whiskey from here, a bag of flour from here, pasta from here,” Jones says, explaining that rural communities hours from cities can’t sell their produce at urban farmers markets. “We can’t have a farm stand and sell potatoes for $10 a pound like we do in Boulder.”
But for Jones, the storytelling that brands need to do, and that she believes Trotta’s Colorado Proud program is designed to do, can’t stop at images of farms and farmers. It has to be about the communities that surround the farms. Many rural communities in America are struggling and can benefit from brands paying extra for organic and regenerative communities.
“I don’t know if people necessarily know when they buy that bag of pasta at Whole Foods that it also comes from a farmer like us in Colorado,” Jones says.
For Devin Jamroz, CEO of Boulder-based rock flour supplier Dry Storage, Colorado is a laboratory of sorts for the relationship between natural product brands and farmers that is currently local but could be replicable in other regions.
Dry Storage buys wheat from farmers in Colorado, mills it and sells the flour to restaurants – “We supply all five Michelin-star restaurants in Colorado” – and hopes to turn a handful of brands into a larger constellation that can serve more demand and more farmers. If the concept proves successful at scale, it could expand beyond Colorado, but the “local” and “circular” market is key, Jamroz says. Relationships are built. Brands grow along with farmers and vice versa. “That creates more security for farmers,” he says.
Such local/regional networks could help the natural products industry build the kind of partnership with farmers that rural economies need, Jamroz says. “Often you see that natural products still come from huge factory farms that only have the right certification, and you may not really be helping those farmers,” he says. Such farms are often forced to maximize production at a scale that is “not really good for the land.”
When brands start asking for regeneratively grown ingredients, Jamroz says they are supporting both the health of the soil and the health of the communities they supply. He points to his company’s collaboration with Jones and her farm. Buying from Jones not only helps keep her business, but also the Rye Resurgence Project She is leading the way in building a market for rye and encouraging farmers to use rye as a winter cover crop, which in turn promotes soil health and minimizes “dust bowl” conditions. “It can be a kind of cash crop while protecting their land,” Jamroz explains.
The benefits that brands get from building direct relationships with farmers like Trotta wants don’t just benefit the farmers, of course. Storytelling is becoming increasingly important for natural brands, but Maura Gramzinski of RedCamper Picnic Supply says that sourcing exclusively from First Fruits Organic Farm in Western Colorado has given her more than just stories to tell: better quality and service than she could ever find working with a distributor. She calls the relationship “amazing.” She tries to tell the story, but it doesn’t do it justice.
“I try to be as transparent as possible when I talk about my products and who I work with because I don’t think that’s even visible to people. And I also think no one understands the challenges they face as farmers trying to get their products to the rest of us.”
