Financing Payments To 2024 Grain Farmers

Cairnspring Mills is a craft flour mill located in Washington's Skagit Valley. They source their grains from regenerative, local growers across the Pacific Northwest to produce high-quality, nutritious flour at a regional scale. The mill serves a diverse customer base, including individuals, bakeries, and food businesses. Cairnspring's customers are highly supportive of the mill, recognizing the tangible benefits it brings to the local agricultural community, such as the creation of quality jobs, improved margins for local growers, and a viable path to economic success through proper stewardship of the land.

Use of Funds

Each December, Cairnspring Mills purchases its entire grain supply for the year from its network of contracted farmers. To facilitate this purchase and ensure timely payment, Cairnspring relies on debt financing. Over the course of the year, as the flour produced by the mill is sold, the company repays this debt. The funds from this participated loan will be used to acquire the recently harvested, 2024 grain from Cairnspring’s network of contracted farmers. A portion of this loan may be funded by Steward Regenerative Capital.

Regenerative & Sustainable Practices

“Buying a loaf of Tartine Bakery’s bread is nothing less than a pilgrimage,” writes The San Francisco Chronicle. For Tartine, and many other bakeries throughout the PNW, that pilgrimage actually begins with the farms and flour produced at Cairnspring Mills:

• Cairnspring’s process yields a higher-quality and more nutritious food source by preserving the natural germ and bran of the flour grains which are stripped away in conventional processing;

• Sourcing from local, regenerative grain producers invests in the local economy and the health of the land;

Contracted farms are committed to sustainable soil practices like cover cropping, crop rotations, animal integrations, and in some cases, no-till farming;

• Cairnspring pays their producers top-dollar for higher quality flour and farming practices, yielding more margin and livable wages.