Strengthening Food Business Supply Chains in CO, WY, and MT
Funded through WSARE
In Partnership with:
a Western SARE funded collaboration project for Colorado, Wyoming, & Montana's
resource professionals, growers, buyers, and investors
Photo Credit: Farm Service Agency- USDA
Positive Outcomes of Improved Supply Chain & Processing Infrastructure:
- Additional income streams for ag producers
- Reduced raw product waste
- New business opportunities, rural investment through
1. Creation of value-added products for end consumer/buyer, and/or
2. Creation of further processed products for food manufacturing
(grinding, milling, rolling, dehydrating, cleaning, sizing, sorting,
cutting, storing, packaging, co-packing)
Wix Stock Photo
Project Overview
Project Goal: facilitate steps toward building the missing middle in locations with limited or no processing infrastructure for grains, pulses, and specialty crops
Key Project Components November 2026- June 2028:
- Webinar 1: Supply chain models (business model approach)
- Webinar 2: Potential processing and marketing solutions
- Webinar 3: Innovative debt and equity funding strategies
- Community focused in-person meetings to build relationships across partners (public and private)
- Supply chain infrastructure improvement feasibility plans for select communities in CO, WY, and MT
Wix Stock Photo
Educational Webinar Series
Webinar 1: Supply Chain Model Overview
November 18th 2026
Time: 1-3 pm Mountain Time
Zoom Registration Link:
Description:
This webinar, the first in a three-part series, will offer some examples from across the West of how businesses and communities are creating new market opportunities for grain, pulse, and specialty crop producers, by building capacity in their supply chains. This means investing in processing or storing those crops so they can be purchased directly by consumers or used in food manufacturing (think rolled oats for granola bars).
Learn from four different models:
· Retail markets
· Vertically integrated companies
· Aggregators
· Cooperatives
Each business is built on partnerships, investment and food system opportunities. How did these businesses organize around identifying an opportunity or encountering a constraint?
If you are looking for new ideas and inspiration to activate change in your community, then this webinar is for you!