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Which could explain why Wang, who earned his bachelor鈥檚 degree in chemical engineering and last year finished a doctorate in agriculture and life sciences from the University of Arizona, was eager to reconnect after taking a job in February as the general manager of Oatman Flats Ranch and Oatman Farms in Gila Bend.

Oatman Farms grows the heritage grains that are the soul of Tucson鈥檚 City of Gastronomy 鈥� White Sonora, Blue Beard Durum, Skagit 1109, Red Fife and Mesquite wheats, most of it using environmentally conscience regenerative farming practices that don鈥檛 require irrigation.

鈥淓very year we generate roughly a half million pounds of grains so that roughly conserves 3陆 million gallons of water,鈥� said Wang, a native of China who came to the United States in 2010 initially to play college basketball in California before ditching his hoop dreams for the UA.

Oatman produces a line of bread, pancake and waffle mixes that they started selling in July through Amazon and their website, . Wang figured there was likely a market here for those mixes, especially the popular Sonora Wheat blends.

But Wang and his small staff were a bit out of their league; they had the product and the moving parts, but they weren鈥檛 sure where to go with it.

鈥淚n food space, we realized there are a lot of learning curves,鈥� he said, adding that his goal with becoming part of the StartUp Tucson accelerator program was to create some brand recognition for Oatman鈥檚 grains and mixes.

The 11-week program helped food entrepreneurs develop ways to bring their ideas to the market, or find bigger markets for their existing products.

鈥淲e are hoping to have some degree of brand recognition and to continue to network with StartUp Tucson to grow in the community,鈥� he said.

The program paid off. Wang said he made connections with and the both of which are carrying his mixes.

鈥淚t was very beneficial for us particularly in the Tucson market,鈥� he said.