Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack was in Colorado last week and met with Gov. Jared Polis, Sen. Michael Bennet, Commissioner Kate Greenberg, and others. Much of the discussion focused on the devastating wildfires Colorado experienced last summer. The group toured Loveland’s Root Shoot Malting, owned by Todd and Steve Olander of Olander Farms to make local grain and craft malt available to the brewing and distilling industries. A fifth-generation farming operation, Olander Farms has grown barley since the late 1970s, originally for Coors and Budweiser. They now grow LCS Genie and LCS Odyssey barley varieties from Limagrain Cereal Seeds in Fort Collins. The farm also grows grains for malts ranging from Genie Pale to Munich 20, as well as malted rye and white wheat.