
A family-owned Aroostook County organic grain farm and mill has received a state award for the company’s role in revitalizing Maine’s grain economy.
Aurora Mills and Farm – owned by Sara and Marcus Flewelling and founded by Sara’s father, Matt Williams – was given the 2025 Maine Dept. of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Commissioner’s Distinguished Service Award. It is the state’s highest agricultural recognition, celebrating exceptional dedication to preserving Maine’s farm culture, heritage and future.
“Through their innovation at Aurora Mills and Farm, these families have shown that family farming is not only part of Maine’s heritage, it’s at the heart of our state’s future,” said Gov. Janet Mills during the presentation.

The Linneus growers farm 450 acres of USDA-certified organic grains including oats, field peas, soybeans, winter rye, hard red spring wheat and Japanese buckwheat. They supply Fedco Seeds, artisanal bakeries, craft breweries, restaurants and others with their grains.
Williams, a retired University of Maine Cooperative Extension grain agronomist, forged new production avenues for Maine’s farmers and the state’s grain-growing economy after Jim Amaral of Borealis Breads approached him in the late 1990s.
Matt Williams started growing organic, food-grade wheat in 1998 and started his milling operation in 2001. That made him one of the first growers in decades to produce organic grains as a money-making crop.
“For many farmers, grains were seen as a bridge to getting back to potatoes,” said Tristan Noyes, head of the Maine Grain Alliance. “But grains in general are a very important part of our regional food system and economy.”

Today, the operation supplies Borealis Breads with 70,000 pounds of fresh, organic whole-wheat and whole-rye flour annually. Additionally, Aurora Mills now supports more than 20 farms by milling and cleaning their grains, fostering a network of local producers dedicated to sustainable, organic practices. They include Allagash Brewing Co., Heiwa Tofu, Fedco Seeds, Night Moves Bread, Crown of Maine distributors and Blue Ox Malthouse.
Their rolled oats are used in colleges, including the University of New Hampshire, Dartmouth College, Boston College and Tufts University. Their Japanese buckwheat is used in soba noodles in a restaurant and their soybeans go to Heiwa Tofu.
Aurora Mills field peas make up a fritter used in hospitals as part of a project getting plant-based proteins into patients’ meals, said Sara Flewelling.
In 2013, Sara, who worked for several years in Washington, D.C. as a landscape designer, came back to Maine to work with her father on the farm. Together, they expanded their operation. As the number of grain buyers grew, they invested in storage tanks and additional milling and cleaning equipment.

On her return to Maine, she also met her husband Marcus, and the couple took over the farm in 2020.
“We are honored and humbled. My father has a long legacy of work in the Maine farming community. He and Jim Amoral made the local grain market come back because it just didn’t exist,” said Sara. “My favorite thing was to see the smile on his face. This award is a testament to my father’s vision and pioneering spirit within Maine’s grain economy. Marcus and I were overjoyed to see his legacy recognized.”
In 2022, Aurora Mills and Farm received a state Agriculture Infrastructure Investment Program grant, which is supporting its efforts to expand the milling operation and develop a gluten-free processing line.
Today, Williams’ original mill still stands, now flanked by digitally advanced cleaning, sorting, storage and milling machines like a new 12-ton tank that can process five to seven tons an hour, yielding 99 percent pure ingredients.
“Aurora Mills and Farms committed decades ago to bringing small grain processing to Maine and remains a leader in building a small-grain economy,” said Blue Ox Malthouse Founder and CEO Joel Alex in a release. “A first mover, they show the tenacity and resilience required to operate in this space — a model for all of us who came after to look up to.”
