June Colony, center, holds a bag of Wallowa County wool while suggesting that Tyler Hays, right, use the local product in his M. Crow clothing line, named for the mercantile Hays owns in Lostine, while Michael Junkins listens. Colony raises sheep and vegetables in Lostine. (Katy Nesbitt)

JOSEPH — Agriculture has been Wallowa County’s economic driver since the region was settled 150 years ago. A recent meeting of entrepreneurs and ranchers started a conversation about how to pique the local economy by finding new markets for local products.

Tyler Hays, a Wallowa County native who uses local clay and barley in products sold online and at his Manhattan boutique, hosted a meeting Dec. 22 to brainstorm what products and processes could help grow the county’s workforce and create more family-wage jobs.

Hays said he made a name for himself manufacturing what he called, “furniture, ceramics and a bunch of other weird stuff in New York.” He has since moved his manufacturing operation to Philadelphia where he employs close to 100 people.

A few years ago, in an attempt to tie his East Coast success with his West Coast roots, Hays bought M. Crow and Company, a mercantile in Lostine previously operated by the Crow family for over 100 years.

“I bought Crow’s for the history and to save it,” Hays said. “I saw an opportunity for a lot of my interests and skill sets to take what that store is, with its amazing history and its brand, and expand on it.”

He said he is using the brand M. Crow and Company in a line of home furnishings and clothing.

“I opened an M. Crow Store in New York and it’s getting a lot of really amazing attention. I want to use that attention to connect the urban and rural cultures,” Hays said.

This summer, Hays and Alan Klages, an upper Wallowa Valley rancher, grew four acres of barley, yielding eight tons for brewing beer. One of Hays’ business ideas for Wallowa County, he said, is to build a brew high-end beer using locally grown barley. He said if growing barley for beer is successful, he would like to encourage as many local farmers to grow the crop to support the brewery’s production.

“I want M. Crow beer to cost more than any on the shelf — an artisanal thing with two or three people hand-making everything,” Hays said.

On the first day of winter Hays invited local businesses and farmers to the Hurricane Creek Grange to discuss how best to create jobs using local products and tapping into his networks to markets around the country.

June Colony raises vegetables and sheep in Lostine. She suggested Hays use Wallowa County wool in his clothing line.

“Historically, Wallowa County used to have millions of sheep. With the grass and flood irrigated pastures, the quality of wool that comes out of here, grown by higher bred breeds, could be a backbone in your clothing line,” Colony said.

Read more in Wednesday’s edition