ABOUT US

Farm to Summit was founded in 2021 by Jane and Louise Barden, a Durango based couple with a passion for adventure and a shared love for farm fresh and flavor packed meals. Together their backgrounds in farming, fine dining, and ecology combine to create a product that intends to not only shake up the way we eat in the backcountry but also help mend the broken links in our food system. Farm to Summit is their vision for a viable future of food, a radical paradigm for our new era of sustainable consumption.

  • Jane, having grown up in Michigan on her family’s third generation farm understands first-hand the broken links in our food system. Imperfections mean waste. Veggies left unharvested and tractor loads of flawed produce thrown over the bank were common sights on her family’s 100-acre produce farm. She is also an avid foodie and businesswoman at heart. After graduating from Fort Lewis College with a degree in Business and Finance she excelled in numerous sales and marketing positions while also working within fine dining. Her years of experience in the restaurant industry have guided her deep appreciation for quality food and excelled her masterful skills in the kitchen.

  • Louise is a botanist with a Masters in Ecology from the University of Colorado in Boulder. She is an avid conservationist and has spent the last decade working in remote wilderness settings across the globe. Raised in Georgia where elaborate home cooked meals were common, she also cultivated a deep-rooted appreciation for fresh foods and food culture. Throughout her career as a research ecologist, she has backpacked extensively- and occasionally for weeks at a time. During these trips her largest struggle was often food. With current backpacking meals not meeting the mark, she became inspired to design her own. Lightweight and instant cooking meals that are packed with flavor, loaded with nutrition, and which don’t pollute the ecosystems that she cherishes most.

Together, Jane and Louise combined their passions to create Farm to Summit- a dehydrated food company on a mission. Farm fresh, flavor packed, sustainably produced and packaged, and working to reduce food waste within our system!