Who plants at least 12 different crops a season, slashes nitrogen applications by over half, aims to seed 3”-row grain in 2025, grows rice in bone-dry conditions, and steadily uncovers unique market demand? Roy the renegade.
Roy Pfaltzgraff’s row crop operation, a hive of unconventional research, is set to push even further to the blade’s edge.
“We’re going to build an online community, Seeding Circles, that teaches farmers where and how to find markets, and brings buyers to growers,” Pfaltzgraff says. “I want to show people a way to recruit food companies and know what’s being asked for.”
Survivability
Outside Haxtun, under the armpit of the Cornhusker line, Pfaltzgraff works 2,000 dryland acres in northeast Colorado. Split between Phillips County’s low hills and flats, his fields (60% sand, 20% clay, and 20% loam) sometimes see below 6” of moisture during the worst growing season, but average 13” of precipitation per year.
Pfaltzgraff operates a farm in flux—steady adaptation. Whether double-cropping, applying table sugar in-furrow, drastically reducing herbicide applications, or trialing crops when the nearest likeminded producer is 1,000 miles distant, Pfaltzgraff is the epitome of outside-the-box.
Walk his rows and expect to see black beans, buckwheat, black-eyed peas, clover, camelina, non-GMO corn, open pollination corn, chickpeas, flax, milo (both red and food grade white), oats, pinto beans, and sunflowers. (Sesame is on the crop roster for the first time in 2025, and Pfaltzgraff intends to grow mushrooms in containers.)
“Every farmer I interact with is concerned about survivability. That means having something to pass to the next generation,” he says. “That can only happen if there’s genuine profitability, soil health, and market opportunities. Our on-farm research is geared toward those needs.”
In the Crosshairs
In 2025, Pfaltzgraff intends to begin installation of a full-time, on-farm education center. Annually, he has six to eight research projects across his operation.
· Rebuilding an air seeder to test 3” row spacing in cereal grains and edible beans—super-narrow to conserve moisture and suppress weeds. (Drilling corn, grain sorghum, and sunflowers on 12” centers has been standard for Pfaltzgraff for several years.)
· Colorado rice—unheard of in the region—is under trial. In 2024, Pfaltzgraff’s rice cultivation ended with freezing damage in the boot stage. “This year we’ll get it in the ground earlier, somewhere in early to mid-April. We’ve tracked down a landrace variety that may work very well out here, and that comes from research by USA Rice Federation.”
· Pfaltzgraff has transformed his headlands—areas of persistent weed and compaction issues—into 158 acres of pollinator strips. Essentially, the first 90’ of headlands in each field are a pollinator haven. “There were bad grasshopper issues around this year, but not in our fields. The grasshoppers stayed in the strips, and that triggered praying mantis to come in and eat. Control by nature. It made my dad ask, ‘What else have we screwed up with old farming methods?”
· An agrivoltaic system, providing a shelter belt and solar power, is gathering data. The buffer has reduced moisture consumption by significant levels: 30% roughly 120’ downwind, and 50% closer to the main body. “It’s really interesting research,” Pfaltzgraff notes. “We’re looking for a computer processing company to come in and build an off-grid server farm run by solar on our farm.”
· Two flux towers in separate fields monitor soil respiration every 15 minutes, measuring gas exchange between soil/vegetation and the atmosphere. “It provides carbon data for different crops and that’s run by retired USDA researcher Jerry Hatfield,” Pfaltzgraff says.
· Pfaltzgraff has applied for a grant to fund research on glyphosate remediation. “Our grain picks it up at 42 parts per billion, but glyphosate isn’t applied to the crop. We’ve all seen the stories about glyphosate found in rainwater, but in parts per trillion. Therefore, it’s gotta be residual in our soils. When we test it, the soil has 47 parts per billion as residue. I’m pissed as a famer because I’m told that doesn’t happen; I’m told glyphosate goes away.Now people are blaming the rain? No, I believe it must be remediated and that is through improved soil health.”
“Those who support glyphosate don’t want to talk about this, and those who oppose glyphosate don’t want to know about remediation because they don’t want it used ever again,” he adds. “I want to do the research and let everyone take their shots. I know it might put a target on my back, but we have to do what’s right for the soil.”
Seeding Circles
In the rows, during field days, at speaking events, or by email—Pfaltzgraff gets the same question from farmers: How do you find markets?
The answer is part of Pfaltzgraff’s effort, alongside his fiancée, Emily Kamala, to create Seeding Circles. “We’re creating a national resource with farmers across the country to bring in outside experts and to recruit food companies to come and tell farmers specifically what they’re looking for,” Kamala says. “Seeding Circles is a hub of support, pricing, profit, marketing, and agronomics. It’s a place to learn about new markets and diversification. We need a community to show people where and how to find markets, and to provide a base of farmers available to buyers.”
“We want to create pockets of local food,” Pfaltzgraff adds. “Local food nationwide is how to counter the industrial scale food industry. All the time, I hear farmers say, ‘I have no local market.’ My response? ‘Your community doesn’t eat?’ If you are farming, then you are raising food—either for humans or animals. Disease and health issues are getting more important to the public by the day, and the problems can be fixed by relying on farmers. I believe we feed a nation by feeding our community.”
On the back of every bag of grain sold by Pfaltzgraff’s Haxtun Heritage Mills, a QR code tells consumers where the product was grown by field, and when it was seeded, harvested, and cleaned—to the day it went into the bag.
“Farmers have been marginalized by the big food companies who say real traceability is impossible. That’s not true. It’s absolutely possible if big food buys direct from farmers and gets past only buying from grain brokers. I’m saying this can be done, but we have to make sure the farmer is part of the story. Those are all pieces of a puzzle coming together in Seeding Circles.”
Riding shotgun with Pfaltzgraff’s concern over food sourcing is his alarm over rural decline. “Right now, and we all know it, the biggest export of rural communities is our children. I want to help reverse that trend. Maybe you know your kids are not interested in farming—but they may be interested in running a milling company or being in an ag-related enterprise. It’s a shame not to create opportunity and give them the option. That’s ties in directly to Seeding Circles.”
“If you sell strictly to the commodity market, then you can’t tell the history of your family and it gets lost. But if you bring in local food as part of the picture, including direct markets and extra markets, you bring that back. Pride of product.”
Risk and Reward
Pfaltzgraff doesn’t sugarcoat. Extreme crop diversity comes at a high cost.
In 2022, his crops drank a mere 6” of precipitation for the entire growing season. In 2023 and 2024, his rows were pounded with significant hail damage. With so many different crops in his fields, he can only get insurance on roughly half of what he grows.
“In 2022, it was so dry that we only harvested half of our crops, and our neighbors harvested none. However, they were better off because they had crop insurance on everything. Advancement comes at a cost.”
After six years of growing black-eyed peas, Pfaltzgraff got RMA to sign off on the legume. However, he’s been waiting on insurance for seven other crops. “It’s a sticky spot. We’re told these crops won’t grow in Colorado, but we have the proof over and over in our field. If we want them insured, we have to get experts to write letters assuring the crops will grow, but RMA still maintains the right to refuse the letter.”
Pfaltzgraff does not fit in the standard farming model sought by insurers and bankers.
“Our situation is tough. We provided yield data that averaged 1,000 lb. per acre on a crop, and they said we had no market. We then provided financial data that shows we make $400 per acre net on dryland. That’s a ridiculous amount of money for this part of world. It’s great in the years you get some rain and little hail, but if either of those changes the insurance world rewards the old practices and the lender starts breathing down your neck. That’s got to change if we want healthy soils for the future.”
As always, Pfaltzgraff adjusts on the fly. “I don’t fit into their tables of risk so I’m being asked to innovate. You sure about that?”
For more from Chris Bennett (@ChrisBennettMS or cbennett@farmjournal.com or 662-592-1106), see:
Corn and Cocaine: Roger Reaves and the Most Incredible Farm Story Never Told
