Cairnspring Mills plans to open Blue Mountain Mill, a stone mill in Pendleton, Oregon, on October 15. The facility will supply regional grain and craft flour to bakers and food brands across the United States. The company states the mill represents a major step toward rebuilding local food systems, enabling direct purchases from Pacific Northwest farmers at premium prices above commodity markets.
Tribal Partnership and Location
The mill was constructed in collaboration with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, which leased the site at Coyote Business Park for 50 years and contributed $5 million in equity. This marks the Tribes’ first equity investment in a private company. The facility is situated on tribal land at the base of the Blue Mountains.
“Flour has been treated as a commodity for so long that it’s easy to forget how much the grain, healthy soil, the farmer and the milling process matter,” said Kevin Morse, co-founder and CEO of Cairnspring Mills. “Blue Mountain Mill is an example of what I call the remarkable middle infrastructure we’ve been working toward: a human-scale mill and model that serves real markets, supports farmers and keeps value in the community where the grain is grown and processed.”
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Capacity and Economic Impact
The 27,000-square-foot facility will begin commercial production in November. When operating at full capacity, it will increase Cairnspring’s annual milling output from approximately 8 million pounds to over 115 million pounds. The company will continue sourcing grain directly from farmers adhering to soil health practices, projecting purchases from about 60,000 acres at full capacity.
Cairnspring estimates the added volume will generate more than $22 million annually for farmers and create over 22 local living-wage jobs. The mill combines traditional stone milling with modern blending and quality controls, optimized for high-volume hard red wheat transported by truck. This allows the original Burlington, Washington, facility, opened a decade ago through a public-private partnership with the Port of Skagit, to concentrate on unique grain varieties for specialty bakers and serve as the company’s innovation center.
Financing and Regenerative Goals
The project received financing from a coalition including Steward, Native American Bank, Mission Driven Finance, eight Native community development financial institutions, the USDA, the state of Oregon, and mission-aligned investors. Funding leveraged New Markets Tax Credits and an EB-5 investment, which the company identifies as one of the first federal rural jobs program approvals for a food processing venture.
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Earlier this year, Cairnspring became the first flour company to earn The Climate Label certification and achieve Certified Regenerative status from A Greener World. Growers in its network have enrolled over 44,000 acres in AGW certification, with plans to exceed 100,000 acres by the end of 2027. The company aims for all conventionally grown grain in its supply chain to eventually be certified regenerative.
Blue Mountain is Cairnspring’s second mill, with potential sites under consideration in Maryland and Colorado. Founded in Washington’s Skagit Valley in 2016, the company partners directly with Pacific Northwest growers using regenerative practices. Every grain lot is identity-preserved and stone-milled to retain the bran and germ.
Unlike many large-scale flour processors that separate milling from farming, Cairnspring’s model integrates both, capturing more value locally. “Wheat is king in Umatilla County, but for generations most of its value has left with the grain,” said Bill Tovey, director of the CTUIR department of economic and community development. “This mill changes that. It brings value-added agriculture home, creates local jobs and gives the Tribes ownership in a growing company that can benefit our people and our neighbors for decades to come.”