22 / SEEDWORLD.COM OCTOBER 2018 Seed Sourcing However, acquiring the seed to grow these ancient grains has not been easy. Sossaman says he’s talked with people from all over the country and in Europe trying to source some of these seeds. “You hear of a guy who might have some, so you pick up the phone and call. He doesn’t have any but he knows some- one who might and connects you with their contact information,” Sossaman shares. “It’s easy to spend a great deal of time just tracking this stuff down, and some people have a hoarding mentality. “We are open source,” Sossaman says. “I believe if you really want to preserve these ancient seeds, then getting them into the hands of as many people as pos- sible just makes sense.” Growing and Processing In the first five years, Sossaman experi- mented with these heritage and ancient grains in different types of growing systems and what he found works best is a set up that marries flood irrigation (irri- gating 2-3 times with 6 inches of water) with vertical tillage. “By adopting this method, I’ve been able to save about 40 percent in fuel and labor,” he says. “The system I’ve got in place uses less water (less than half) and less fertilizer (only cow manure) — some- thing that’s been attractive as we’ve hired a few contract growers. “You’ve got to have something that’s attractive when yields are one-half to one-third of a normal wheat crop, plus we charge buyers a premium price so we can take care of our growers.” Sossaman grows Farro (Triticum dicoc- con), a chewy ancient wheat that once flourished in the Middle East. Another heir- loom wheat, Red Fife, is especially suited for bread baking. Two cultivars of barley grow on the farm, Black Nile from Egypt and Tibetan Purple, both of which do well in the Sonoran Desert because they originated in harsh climates. Three cultivars of durum wheat on the property provide semolina for making pasta. Once the grain is harvested, it’s brought into the warehouse where Sossaman has invested more than $2 million and sourced equipment from five countries to get the best pieces for a one- of-a-kind food-grade processing facility. “People around the country have different parts of this system, but not all these pieces put together like this,” Sossaman says. First the grain is sent through a clipper, which gets rid of chaff, and then to a gravity table, which is followed by a destoner with magnets throughout it to catch any metal. It also goes through a Meyer color sorter. “For the White Sonora, hard reds and purple grains, we are able to set up a color spectrum that sorts out exactly what we want for pure, food-grade wheat,” explains Tolmachoff, who did all the research and designed the system. Then there’s a dehuller to get the husks off the grain, allowing them to sell hulled Farro. Finally, there’s a preservation system in which oxygen is pulled out of the storage bags and carbon dioxide is pumped in. “We did this because we may only grow a specific variety one year out of five, so we needed a way to keep the grain’s qual- ity for an extended period of time,” says Tolmachoff, who just three years ago never dreamed he’d be working on a farm. “It’s been a good transition because with Steve’s farming background and mine as a chef, I know what they are looking for and I can speak the end-user’s language,” he adds. Sossaman sells the wheat mostly in 1-ton totes, and he says some microbrew- eries will order in 50-pound bags for 60 cents to $1.25 per pound. Sossaman’s biggest customer: Zimmerman and his daughter Emma at Hayden Flour Mills. Milling “The grains that we mill are those grown prior to the 1950s,” says Zimmerman, who got his first batch of White Sonora to mill in 2011. “These are known as heritage grains, similar to an heirloom tomato. We also mill ancient grains and these are the grains that go back to 10,000 years ago.” Hayden Flour Mills sifts, bags, labels and ships flour to customers. One of those customers is Chris Bianco, who’s famous around the world for his pizza. Every week, Bianco orders 50 pounds of semolina for his pasta from Hayden Flour Mills and that’s delivered fresh every Friday. “We’ve come such a long way in the heritage grain movement in Arizona, in just the past three to four years,” Zimmerman says. While it was his passion, he says it couldn’t be successful without chefs like Bianco who put a great deal of integrity into their ingredients, and farmers such as Sossaman who are willing to take a risk. “The past five to seven years have been the most rewarding because we actually get to see our product and what hap- pens on our farm go from seed to plate,” Sossaman says. SW Seed World goes on site to see Sossaman Farms’ seed and grain processing facility and pasta in the making from Hayden Flour Mills. DID YOU KNOW? It’s so dry in Arizona that when harvested the wheat is only 6 percent moisture. Millers have to add moisture back in to get it up to the desired 10-12 percent.