OVERVIEW OF BUCKWHEAT AT MINN-DAK

MinnDak Ag is a contractor, processor, and marketer of buckwheat to the domestic and international food ingredients industry. As a reliable supplier to the Japanese buckwheat market for over 20 years, MinnDak Ag is continuously seeking new product applications and uses for buckwheat. We have state of the art buckwheat processing facilities that provide the following benefits:

We can clean and size whole buckwheat seed to meet the demands of the customer. MinnDak Ag has a wide variety of processing equipment to clean foreign material from buckwheat, thus ensuring improved product quality for value-added processing.

We can load containers, trucks, and rail cars, thus providing flexible shipping methods to our customers.

We have the newest and largest buckwheat milling operation in North America. Dedicated in memory of Frank Good, MinnDak Ag’s chief engineer, construction was completed in 1997. This facility allows us to develop a wide variety of buckwheat ingredients for use by customers in specific food applications.

BUCKWHEAT AS A CROP

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) is a broadleaf crop that is in the same plant family as rhubarb. It is not related to any other wheat, and consequently is an excellent rotation crop in small grain cropping systems. Buckwheat is adapted to a wide variety of soils and climates and is produced extensively in North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Washington.

MinnDak Ag contracts directly with farmers and provide them with the latest crop production research to produce top quality buckwheat for processing. Our farm level research program includes:

• Studying the mechanisms of seed set and yield in buckwheat.
  This research has resulted in:
  a. Reducing buckwheat yield variability.
  b. Providing information to assist plant breeders in developing higher yielding varieties.
  c. Developing proprietary computer models to assist farmers in optimizing harvest
  timing.
• MinnDak Ag’s mission is to develop new buckwheat varieties for its stakeholders.
• Annual educational seminars for our contract buckwheat producers.

MinnDak Ag has an extensive library of buckwheat production information to assist our contract growers in raising the best buckwheat possible. MinnDak Ag buckwheat varieties are NOT genetically modified organisms (GMO’S).