Earthwise Finding Its Niche with Niche Crops

By Tracy Sayler

Growing a niche crop or grain with unique properties? Then Earthwise Processors LLC might be able to find a home for it.

Meeting the specific needs of grain customers is how Earthwise, www.earthwisepro.com got its start. The business was formed by six Red River Valley farmers and Manitoba-based Agri-Tel Ltd. in June, 2000 to process and market specialized grains, including organic crops. 

“IP (identity preservation) has given my company its existence.  That’s what we do,” says Carroll Duerr, general manager. “Our business really begins when the customer calls me up and says, for example, ‘can you find me 1,000 metric tons of this variety of soybeans, can you clean it to this shape, size, and quality, put it in 25 kilogram bags and ship it to a port in Japan?’ And we do the legwork for them.”

The two-year-old, 375,000-bushel capacity business that specializes in marketing differentiated and niche grain is located in the former Anheuser-Busch barley seed plant near Moorhead.  It’s strategically located near two interstate highways and Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail lines. The company started with three employees, and now has nine full-time and five part-time employees. “Timing has been kind to us,” Duerr says. “We used to load three containers a week, now we average 25 a week.” One container holds about 20 metric tons.

Through the fall, the company’s two dumping locations, specialized cleaning and processing equipment, and warehouse facilities will be busy 24 hours a day, six days a week.

Earthwise handles specialized crops such as yellow flax and chick peas, selling trait-specific grain in smaller quantities.  The company handles five different types of corn alone: popcorn, yellow, white, blue, and waxy, as well as six types of soybeans: non-biotech, clear hylum, sprouted beans, tofu beans, soy milk beans, and nato beans.

“We handle just about every crop imaginable, from popcorn to peas to flax to wheat and barley and lentils, even vetch,” Duerr says. 

Four major crops represent the core of Earthwise’s business: soybeans, peas, flax, and wheat. “It’s organic and variety specific, like white spring wheat, extra strong wheat, and high protein wheat, all used in different niches in the system.”

Earthwise handles only non genetically-engineered crops. “Every load that comes into our facility is tested before it gets dumped. If a GMO shows up on the test strip, it’s rejected,” says Duerr.

The company buys about 25% of its commodities by contract, and about 75% through the open market. Premiums can vary depending upon the type of grain in demand; in the case of soybeans, from 25 cents to $3.00 over the nearby soybean market price.

“We have two sides to our customer,” says Duerr, who managed the grain elevator at Fosston, Minn., before coming to Earthwise.  “We have customers that are farmers that we buy from, and customers who we sell to.” Foreign markets represent about 70% of the company’s business, and domestic buyers about 30%.

Earthwise buys grain from throughout the Northern Plains, as far out as Montana. “It’ll all depend on what the customer wants.  Sometimes we even bring grain in from Canada, if we can’t find something in the U.S.”

Not all farmers or elevators are cut out for IP, Duerr points out. “Some want to grow GMO crops, and that’s fine. It’s an easier system. It also creates a market for non-GMO and variety specific, and that’s good for us.”

Duerr says markets should be strong for flax and peas, as well as specific-use soybeans and variety-specific wheat.  “It’s looking interesting for flax and peas, because I’m a bit concerned both may be a little short. Soybeans are always a big commodity, because it’s such a multiple-use commodity. I’m going to be short on popcorn, and on the wheat side, I’m definitely going to be short on variety specific.  There seems to be a growing demand for certain types of wheat.” 

He advises those interested in growing niche crops or specific varieties next year to start doing their homework now, to see what would grow well—or not so well—on their cropland. “There’s a great opportunity in the world market because of the crops we can grow here.  We try to help growers find out what might work for them, and what customers want to buy,” he says.  “We always tell farmers we work with, ‘isn’t it nice to handle something that people want to buy?’ It just makes sense to me.”