Rye Resurgence: The Film

The Rye Resurgence Project has teamed up with renowned documentary filmmaker Lindsey Hagen. Through this film, we’ll elevate the key voices in the San Luis Valley working passionately to build a high-alpine rye market from the ground up - a market that will help save San Luis Valley aquifers and build economic and environmental resilience for this vital agricultural community and Colorado’s greater food system.

Watch the video highlights from this film-in-progress below and help support this storytelling effort with a donation to the Colorado Rio Grande Restoration Foundation, the film’s fiscal partner - all donations are tax deductible! Click here or the button below and select ‘Rye Resurgence Film’ under ‘Designation’ to donate.

Watch the Sizzle Reel Here

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Rye Resurgence Film:

Sizzle Reel, Video Clips, & Highlights

Rye Resurgence Film: Sizzle Reel

“The choices that farmers and ranchers are having to make are really serious. All of them share the challenge of having to learn to do more with less, and that's where the Rye resurgence project comes in…
If this turns into a dust bowl, if this turns into a ghost town, the impact that that will have on the entire state, if not the country is huge. So what happens here matters. This community matters to the larger fabric and the success of Colorado.”
Rye Resurgence: The Maltsters, Distillers, & Brewers

“We’ve been working with the Rye Resurgence Project for a little over a year. Really it’s just a shared vision that saving water is huge and getting people to understand that you can make excellent beer and excellent spirits from a crop that doesn’t use as much water.”
Rye Resurgence: The Farmers

“We used to be a potato, malt barley rotation, but with the drought that started in 2002, we completely quit growing malt barley and the rye will grow on as little as…nothing. To get a good amount of snow on it in the winter, it’ll take off.”
Rye Resurgence: The Conservationists

“This area, while it’s only 0.01% of Colorado’s population, it contributes 39% of Colorado’s agriculture economy. So what happens here matters, this community matters to the larger fabric and the success of Colorado. We’re doing everything we can to become more resilient as we’re seeing our water supplies change.”
Rye Resurgence: The Bakers & Chefs

“Rye itself, from a baker’s perspective, is just kind of like the ace up your sleeve. It’s unbelievably flavorful, lower in gluten content, and it makes really good cookies. REALLY good cookies.”