The project launched in spring 2018 on a small plot with 100 seeds each of twelve varieties. The trial plot was located at Los Luceros Historic Farm and Ranch north of Espanola on the Rio Grande. Los Luceros is a stated-owned historic property with 140 acres mostly in apple orchards. We were grateful to have access to a place to grow our grains and for the support of the Los Luceros staff and especially for the availability of the irrigation water, which was especially important for the spring trials.
We trialed grains at Los Luceros for three seasons before moving our operation in October, 2019, from Los Luceros Historic Farm & Ranch to Mer-Girl Farm in La Villita, NM, expanding from trial quantities to seed increase quantities of our most successful varieties. With the move came a project name change from “Los Luceros Heritage Grains” to “Rio Grande Grains.”
We want to acknowledge the generosity of team member Ron Boyd and his wife Debora Clare for the use of 1/4 acre for our seed increase and for Ron’s great generosity of spirit, expertise, and the use of his farm tools, including the walk-behind seeder, irrigation equipment, sickles, and most especially his brand new small-scale combine which is essential for harvesting/threshing grains in small fields and which will save many hours of labor and hand threshing.
Grain Trials Data
Spring 2018
Fall 2018
Spring 2019
Fall 2019