Red Tail Grains

Danny Cowan and George Allen are co-owners of Red Tail Grains, LLC. They met in 2009 while studying at Oberlin College and majoring in Environmental Studies and Biology, respectively. 

Danny worked on mixed vegetable farms from 2009-2014, beginning with a sustainable agriculture program at Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA. After farming in Ohio for two years, he moved to North Carolina in 2011, where he worked for two seasons at Maple Springs Gardens in Cedar Grove, NC. He also has a background in baking, running Three Bellows Bakery, a small wood-fired bakery in Pittsboro, in 2013 and 2014. He apprenticed with Rob and Monica Segovia Welsh of Chicken Bridge Bakery and thinks a lot about how grain affects bread. 

George co-owned and operated Red Tail Farm, a mixed vegetable farm, in 2011-2013, selling at the Chapel Hill farmer's market and through a CSA. Since then, in addition to the farm, he has worked professionally as a car mechanic and carpenter. George maintains and repairs all of the equipment on the farm, which includes tractors, combine, farm trucks, and tillage, planting, and seed cleaning equipment.

We are not currently Certified Organic, but our growing practices align closely with organic growing methods and in many cases exceed organic standards. Our number one priority is to produce a high quality grain through the cultivation of healthy soils. Synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides are never used on the soils we grow on. All of our crops are non-GMO. Soil fertility is developed through the use of cover crops, manures, compost, and organic fertilizers. Currently we rotate winter cereals, red clover, buckwheat, millet, sunflowers, soybeans, cowpeas, and corn. We are striving towards reducing the amount of mechanical tillage we now rely upon in order to build soil organic matter, but it is quite difficult without the use of herbicides. As we gain experience and learn from others, we hope to continue developing a holistic system that harbors diversity and accumulates organic matter.