Quinoa, like amaranth, is not a grain, but a high-fibre pseudo-grain — an herb, in fact, a cousin of sugar beets, beetroot and spinach.

The quinoa plant is frost-resistant and salt-resistant, thrives in poor soil and is generally tough, with a massive branching taproot that makes it mostly drought-resistant. All of this makes it ideal for its region of origin in the Andes Mountains of South America, where it was revered as a mother-grain and eaten as a staple for thousands of years by that region’s indigenous Inca, Aymara and Quechua people. As recounted in the National Research Council’s 1989 book, Lost Crops of the Incas, adventurer Thor Heyerdahl took quinoa with him on his single-sail balsa and bamboo raft, Kon-Tiki, when he and six companions sailed across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to French Polynesia in 1947. Seven thousand kilometres in three and a half months — any foodstuffs taken onboard had to be high-value and easily stored!

In contemporary kitchens, quinoa is viewed as a superfood — a rare plant containing all nine essential amino acids that constitute complete protein. One complication to cooking quinoa is the need to either soak and rinse the seeds or dry-roast them, which removes a bitter external layer of soap-like saponin. Historians have shown the soaked-away saponin was used by the Inca people as a laundry soap.

When cooking, think of quinoa like rice: it can be steamed into a pilaf, or ground into flour. Remember that it quadruples in volume when cooked, so don’t be tempted to add just a little bit more, unless you want to eat leftovers (usually a good thing!).

Bonus: young quinoa leaves are tender, good steamed or sauteed. One of my personal complaints about eating grain dishes is the monotonous texture that goes bite-by-bite with the genre. So just as when making a rice pilaf or risotto or biryani, when cooking quinoa I add other textures and flavours.

So here we are, finally at the kitchen counter, getting ready to plan a brunch for the bunch. Grain dishes serve as wonderful brunch centrepieces, enabled by make-ahead smarts. Make the pilaf today; tomorrow you can use the leftovers to stuff and roast a little bird or serve alongside a grilled steelhead fillet after you’ve had your morning coffee, and still manage to serve brunch at 1 p.m. — perfect planning. First we eat, then we discuss other meals that can be made ahead, ideal for spring gardening season.

Quinoa fruit pilaf and stuffing

This spicy blend of multi-textured bits and bites makes a stellar main course on its own, rounded out with greens or seasonal vegetables. It shines as a stuffing for a whole roasting chicken, served with roasted steelhead, or tucked under the skin of boneless chicken parts.

The dish takes 30 minutes to make — a worthwhile investment of time for a yummy meal with multiple serving possibilities and delicious leftovers. Make a day ahead, if brunch is the game plan. Adapted from The Versatile Grain and the Elegant Bean by Sheryl and Mel London (Simon and Schuster, 1992). Serves 6.

• 1 cup quinoa
• 2 Italian sausages, removed from casings and crumbled
• 1 tsp. fennel seed
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. grated ginger root
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 carrot, coarsely ground
• 1 tsp. sweet Hungarian paprika
• ½ tsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tsp. freshly ground coriander
• 1 apple or pear, finely diced
• ½ c. dried cranberries
• ½ c. diced dried apricot
• ½ tsp. dried thyme
• ½ tsp. dried oregano
• ½ tsp. dried basil
• 1 Tbsp. pomegranate molasses
• 1 orange, zest and juice
• ¼ c. minced fresh chives or parsley
• ½ c. chopped toasted walnuts, pecans or pistachios
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lemon, zest and juice

Put the quinoa in a medium pot and dry-roast uncovered over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring. Add 2 cups of boiling salted water (caution – it spatters!), cover, and steam on low heat for 12-15 minutes. Leave the lid on and let it stand while you finish preparations.

Sauté the sausages with the fennel seed until cooked through, remove from the pan, then heat the oil and sauté garlic and ginger for 1-2 minutes. Add onion and carrot; sweat over low heat until tender, about 10 minutes. Add paprika and coriander. Combine with cooked quinoa and all remaining ingredients. Mix well. Season to taste with lemon zest and juice, salt and pepper. Serve hot or chill to use a day later as a main, side, or stuffing. When reheating, add a little water or orange juice.

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“Last year was a tough year for Canadian farmers for all crops, with quinoa no exception. This year is looking a lot more positive. We seem to have missed the hot season as seeding came at the right time,” he said, noting this fall’s yields are around 1,100 pounds per acre, which is about average.

He said the majority of the quinoa in Canada is grown in Saskatchewan, primarily north of Highway 16; some is also grown in southern Manitoba and northern Alberta, plus some in the latter province’s south under irrigation.

Prices for quinoa have held up, remaining about the same from 2021-22, Dutcheshen said, noting that quinoa prices in South America are currently high.

“That’s kind of working in our favour, so we are able to maintain last year’s price, which is a little higher than in previous years,” he added, but declined to cite Norquin’s contract price.

An ancient grain from South America, quinoa generally prefers a cooler climate but has a low tolerance for frost.

As more Canadian farmers try growing quinoa, companies such as NorQuin not only market it domestically but also export it to the U.S., Mexico, Europe, Australia, Korea, Japan, and South America.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg; includes files from Treena Hein of Glacier FarmMedia.

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“As well as everything else we had some areas that had a little bit of moisture and crops are looking OK. In areas where wheat and canola struggled, quinoa struggled a little bit,” O’Halloran said.

This year’s harvest is most likely to start in about seven to 10 days, he added, with only a handful of producers already in the fields.

“Visual inspections of fields [show] there are definitely some fields that struggled with the drought,” he said.

He estimated about 12,500 acres of quinoa were grown in Canada last year, which provided yields of 1,100 to 1,200 lbs. per acre.

Price-wise, he said NorQuin was presently drawing up contracts for the coming season and declined to cite any prices.

“We’re looking at the global price of quinoa and what the markets are doing,” he said, noting South American production is a big driver.

Globally, Peru grows the majority of the world’s quinoa, with its 2020 crop estimated to be around 98,000 tonnes, followed by Bolivia at about 73,000 tonnes, according to IndexBox.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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Dan Boulton of NorQuin at Saskatoon said there is a world shortage of quinoa, which will increase its price.

“We put our price up a few cents per pound. Right now we’re starting to see the same (price) to a slight increase,” he said, noting NorQuin has bids between 60 and 70 cents/lb. for quinoa.

Percy Phillips of Prairie Quinoa at Portage la Prairie, Man. sees it the other way around.

“I believe the pricing for the commodity generally will be decreasing slightly over the winter and into the spring season,” he said.

Boulton and Phillips agreed more quinoa will be grown in Canada, given rising consumption. According to Statistics Canada’s 2016 numbers, the most recent data, nearly 11,700 acres of quinoa were grown in the country that year, compared to about 320 acres in 2011.

Most of the 2016 quinoa crop was grown in Saskatchewan with about 9,500 acres; Alberta was second, with close to 1,050. Manitoba had a little more than 900 acres of quinoa; Ontario’s crop was roughly 350.

Quinoa originated in South America and is noted for its health benefits, such as being gluten-free and high in protein. However, it can be a difficult crop to grow.

“It’s a special crop that requires special attention,” Boulton said.

One issue has been that there are no registered chemicals available to use on quinoa.

“Most of our growers have adapted and figured out ways to keep the crop clean before and after,” he said, noting growers use integrated pest management practices.

Although quinoa has a reputation for growing well in poorer soils, staff at Prairie Quinoa have found it’s not a requirement, as found with crops grown successfully near Melita and Swan River in western Manitoba.

“Just like other crops, the better the quality of the soil, the better chance of a successful crop with a commercially acceptable yield,” Phillips said.

— Glen Hallick writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Glacier FarmMedia company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting. Follow CNS Canada at @CNSCanada on Twitter.

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And though its low acreage still puts it in the “niche” category of production in western Canada, some conventional producers see it as a great rotation option.

“The fact that it’s another crop to add to the rotation is probably the biggest agronomic bonus,” says Andrew Dalgarno, a Newdale, Man., producer who’s been growing quinoa for four years. “Financially, the crop pays well. It comes with a fair bit of risk, but the farmer is paid to take on that risk.”

Dalgarno grows quinoa for Northern Quinoa, Western Canada’s largest quinoa processor.

He says he makes three times the value of canola per bushel of quinoa.

As for the risks? There’s no crop insurance for quinoa in Manitoba, although Saskatchewan producers can get specialty crop insurance. There are no chemistries registered for quinoa to control insects, disease or weeds. And Dalgarno says the crop is slow to establish so beating out competition from weeds can be tricky.

But for Dalgarno — and a growing number of producers — the risks are worth it.

According to Dan Bolton, director of farm services for Northern Quinoa, quinoa carries virtually no diseases in North America. “It’s a nice break from blackleg and sclerotinia, a nice break in chemistry rotations,” he says.

Northern Quinoa contracts

Northern Quinoa helps mitigate some of the risks by offering producers 100 per cent production contracts that contain an Act of God clause, and works very closely with producers to offer agronomic support still lacking in the industry.

The company is vertically integrated “from field to fork” — it’s one of only six companies in the world breeding quinoa, says Bolton — and is involved in contracting producers, cleaning, processing, bagging and selling to end users. Northern Quinoa sells quinoa to Eastern Canadian Costco stores, federated co-ops and independent stores, but its biggest markets are in the U.S.

Last year the company contracted 34,000 acres across the Prairie provinces. This year they’re cutting acres back, says Bolton. According to the company’s website, 2018 contracts are full but producers can apply to grow quinoa in 2019.

Northern Quinoa is the biggest quinoa company in Western Canada, but it isn’t the only one.

Manitoba-based Prairie Quinoa’s mission is to grow quinoa locally and to produce a distinct “Canadian quinoa.” Its founder, Percy Phillips, has been working with Manitoba Agriculture to perform variety trials on seed sourced in quinoa’s native South America since 2014.

Phillips has tested between 23 and 25 varieties of quinoa and has identified three or four varieties as being potentially commercially viable.

“The biggest hurdle here is the growing season with not too many more than 100 days frost free, while in South America quinoa can take from 130 to 170 days from seeding to harvest,” he says.

Quinoa is an indeterminate crop; it can fully mature in as few as 100 days or as late as 128 days, according to Bolton.

Both companies will be involved in further trials this summer, according to Craig Linde, diversification specialist with Manitoba Agriculture. Northern Quinoa’s trials will be focused on variety development and evaluation, agronomy and preliminary pesticide screening. The trials with Phillips’ company will look at agronomic by variety interactions.

While this research represents a promising beginning, locally tailored agronomic resources for producers are still lacking.

Dalgarno says the crop should be given the best possible start. He says it’s crucial to plant quinoa on clean fields. He’s had good results planting after soybean, because weeds can be wiped out with Roundup in soybean years.

Quinoa also likes narrow row spacing and seeding depths very similar to canola. The seed size is similar to that of canola so no special seeding or harvesting equipment is required.

On Dalgarno’s operation he gets yields between 850 and 1,000 clean pounds per acre after dockage has been taken off, which is about average for Northern Quinoa’s producers, he says.

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The CCGA on Thursday announced it’s now accepting applications for the 2017-18 advance payments program (APP), which offers cash advances on 45 different crop and livestock commodities. The CCGA is the administrative agency for the federal program.

This year’s list of commodities includes quinoa for the first time, the CCGA said in a release.

The CCGA said Thursday it will now also accept Moose Jaw-based Global Ag Risk Solutions’ production cost insurance plan as a form of security on field crop advances, alongside crop insurance and AgriStability.

The CCGA also noted Thursday it has moved to a single common form for all applicants, replacing its previous “province-specific” application form. “Regardless of which province you farm in, you will use the same application.”

Producers can download the new form from the CCGA website or apply online. The forms are also available at “most” elevators and grain processing plants.

The APP provides eligible producers with cash advances of up to $400,000, with the first $100,000 being interest-free and an additional $300,000 interest-bearing at prime rate.

“The spring cash advance program provides farmers with access to cash flow on their unharvested crops and newly born livestock,” CCGA CEO Rick White said in Thursday’s release.

“We’ve already been getting calls from farmers, so we are pleased that in the first full week of March we are ready to launch our pre-application process.”

Though CCGA has kicked off its pre-application process now, to allow farmers to get the paperwork done before spring seeding, the association begins issuing advance funds on April 3, White noted. — AGCanada.com Network

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There is only one company, Northern Quinoa Corp., growing and producing quinoa in Canada. For over 20 years they’ve grown and produced small acreages, but the rising popularity of the so-called superfood is changing that.

“We have a total of 15,500 acres between (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba),” said Colin Dutcheshen of Northern Quinoa. “That’s increased threefold; last year we had only around 5,100 acres.”

Growers this year span from Peace River, Alta. to Fisher Branch, Man., and for the most part, quinoa crops are looking really good so far, Dutcheshen said.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba, he said, have been “getting a lot of wet weather right now… but it hasn’t been excessive for the most part and with that, quinoa is coming along nicely.

“It doesn’t particularly like overly wet, which it hasn’t been, and it’s not getting extra hot, which is a benefit right now because it’s going into its flowering stage.”

There are 103 producers growing quinoa this year, Dutcheshen said. Most crops are in the northern parts of the provinces and stick toward the east, as quinoa tends to do better on the eastern side.

Because it’s a fairly new crop on the Prairies, quinoa isn’t pressured by disease, he said.

“Disease won’t be a really big problem. If we get excessive rains that could be an issue, at the moment hail is our biggest concern,” he said. “We’re advising our growers to insure their crops for hail because that is something that can happen anytime.”

Northern Quinoa does its business under production contracts with farmers, but due to the increase in acreage, prices have seen an increase as well, Dutcheshen said.

“We offer 70 cents per pound on production, which is up from last year’s 60 cents per pound.”

— Erin DeBooy writes for Commodity News Service Canada, a Winnipeg company specializing in grain and commodity market reporting.

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“With any new crop, farmers should make sure they’re not listening to marketing hype, but that there is somebody buying and using the product, even if it’s on a small scale,” says William May, a research scientist who works with new crops at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada at Indian Head, Sask. “Then they have to consider where is the market, what’s the cost of getting it there, what quality the buyer needs, and how it compares economically to the crops they are currently growing.”

Camelina is a good example of a crop that was over-hyped to begin with, but which has developed a niche market that’s doing well. One company ran into financial difficulties in 2012 when it couldn’t meet its projected sales expectations for the camelina it had contracted with producers. By contrast, Three Farmers of Midale, Sask., has successfully established a specialty niche market for camelina oil as a healthy oil for human consumption. “It’s a great example of where one part of the market has been successful with a new crop and another has moved away from it,” says May.

How do I grow it?

The next question is: “How do I grow it?” May and his colleagues do the background agronomic work on new crops so that if they offer some opportunities for producers, they have the agronomics to support production. “It’s important to get the agronomics in hand at an early stage so that it can be given a fair shake as a new crop,” says May. “If nobody knows how to grow it, and they grow it the wrong way, it gets a bad rap and then it’s twice as hard to promote it the next time.”

Farmers can run into production issues it they adopt a crop wholesale, before it’s proven itself under different conditions. “I always worry about over-enthusiasm for a new crop,” says May. “You can run into problems in production practices going from a small, isolated area to a bigger area that you didn’t expect.”

If everyone jumps into a new crop at the same time there can be overproduction and too much supply, which has happened in the hemp industry, says May. “Hemp seed production increased faster than demand in 2015 and now we’ve overproduced, so hemp production is going to fall back a bit before it can move ahead again,” says May. “With minor crops there’s always that risk as well.”

Niger, quinoa, fenugreek?

So what’s the prognosis for the three crops we started this article with?

Fenugreek is used as both a culinary and medicinal herb, and is a common ingredient in Indian food such as curries. It is rich in vitamins and minerals, and is also high in protein. “There’s a small acreage of fenugreek used by Emerald Seed Products in Avonlea, Sask., that is fractionated and sold for several high value products but it is difficult to predict how fast that market is going to expand,” says May.

Quinoa is a highly nutritious, gluten-free, ancient grain that comes from the Andes region of South America. It has become popular with health-conscious consumers in recent years after celebrities like Oprah Winfrey touted its nutritional benefits. About 5,000 acres of quinoa were grown on the Prairies in 2015 and one company projects acres to reach 100,000 by 2018. “I’m interested in seeing what the actual area of adaptation is for quinoa because there are some issues there,” says May.

Niger is an oilseed crop that has been cultivated in Ethiopia and India for several thousand years, where it’s used mainly as a cooking oil. It’s also imported as a bird feed in Europe and North America. Niger has a small but established market as a bird seed and is currently grown by a few farmers in western Canada that sell to local stores or farmer markets. However, currently regulations dictate that Niger be heat sterilized at a USDA approved facility before it can be imported into the U.S. which limits the market of niger produced in Western Canada.

But… you never know

The good news is that there’s always somebody out there looking for opportunities. “You never know when all of a sudden somebody has a market demand for something new and there’s potential to produce it here,” says May. “For farmers, they’re looking for new opportunities, and it often depends how well they are doing with their other crops whether they’re interested in assuming more risk with some newer crops, that in the long term could be economically advantageous for them.”

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There is no definitive list of “special” crops. Many crops we think of as “new” are actually very old. Some that are “special” in one area are standard in another.

This is not an exhaustive list of special crops that Prairie farmers have been growing in recent years, just a run down on some of the crops you might be running into down your gravel road. Some on this list will seem like old news to you. Maybe there are some on your “maybe I should seed this” list for 2015 (see link to Gallery below).

Hemp

Hemp is of course famous, or infamous, for its resemblance to Cannabis, the drug. Hemp is part of the Cannabis family, however, it produces little or none of the drug its cousins are known for. Hemp has deep roots in Canadian agriculture (it goes back to 1606), and has been used for both food and fibre.

Health Canada has strictly regulated commercial hemp production since 1994. By 2013 there were 66,671 acres licensed for cultivation. Health Canada does not release the numbers until after harvest, so 2014 acres are not yet known, but some believe there could have been more than 100,000 acres in 2014.

Hemp seed is very nutritious, considered by some to be one of the so-called “superfoods.” It contains all nine essential amino acids, both omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids and is also high in magnesium, iron, potassium, fibre and a variety of antioxidants and phytochemicals. We see a range of hemp products in the store, including things such as Hemp Hearts (packaged raw, shelled hemp seeds), nutrient bars, dips, salad dressings and more.

Hemp is seeded mid-May to mid-June at 25 to 35 pounds per acre. Bin run seed is not permitted by federal regulations. Hemp requires about 110 days to mature.

The key to getting hemp off to a good start is to seed it into a clean, firm seedbed that has been pre-tilled or sprayed. Hemp does not like wet feet. Once emerged, hemp is a very competitive crop that quickly forms a dense canopy choking out weeds. At maturity, it reaches five to eight feet in height. Industrial hemp can be straight cut with a draper header and the newer varieties are much easier to thresh than in the past. After harvest, it requires drying to nine per cent moisture for storage.

• View the Grainews Gallery: Special crops you may be seeing more of

Quinoa

According to Saskatchewan Agriculture special crops specialist Dale Rizula, quinoa is going off the charts. “Ever since quinoa was featured on Oprah, its popularity has grown,” says Rizula. “That very public clap-on-the-back to quinoa was all consumers needed to jump on the band wagon, and farmers are winners in that it provides them another crop in the rotation.”

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is often referred to as an ancient grain, but it is really a species of goosefoot, not a true grass. It is more closely related to beets, spinach and tumbleweed than to wheat. It is high in protein, has no gluten and performs well on dry soils. As for taste, some rave about its great taste and others liken it to sawdust.

Quinoa was originally cultivated by the Inca in South America, high up in the Andes, and was considered sacred, but now is cultivated in many areas of North America. It works in many areas of the Prairies, but especially in areas where heat stress in the summer is less likely.

Jeff Kostuik is a diversification specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development and he is seeing more interest than usual in quinoa. “We started dabbling in quinoa as a demonstration crop in 1997,” says Kostuik. “Recently, interest has definitely picked up giving this niche crop quite a boost. Pricing has gone from 20 to 30 cents per pound to 75 cents per pound.”

Along with this increased demand and higher pricing, there is some quinoa breeding on-going at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada to develop varieties better suited to Prairie production.

NorQuin is a processor in Saskatoon that specializes in Canadian grown quinoa and is the only contracting agent on the Prairies for the crop. Find more information about NorQuin online at www.quinoa.com.

Fababeans

Fababeans are grown for both human and animal food markets. The human food market is primarily in the Middle East and Mediterranean area where fababeans are a traditional part of the diet. The human consumption fababean is often referred to as a tannin faba, whereas a zero-tannin or low-tannin faba is required in the animal feed market.

Fababean is a smaller seeded relative of the Chinese broadbean, but it is a large bean. They require a long growing season, 110 to 130 days, to achieve their maximum potential yield. The plant has an upright growth habit and can reach up to almost five feet. It can make an excellent silage for both beef and dairy cattle. The seed is high in protein and can replace soybeans in the ration.

Fababean does best in agricultural areas that receive good moisture and are relatively cool. Much like quinoa, it does not like heat, especially combined with dry conditions. It is a good option for irrigation. It is the most efficient nitrogen-fixing legume available in Western Canada and can be very useful in the rotation to break various pest cycles.

Camelina

Camelina, or False Flax, has become an oilseed of interest on the Prairies primarily driven by the bio-diesel industry. It can also be used in fish feed, human consumption oils and bio-lubricants. It has very a very stable oil with high levels of omega-3 essential fatty acid and Vitamin E.

There was a high level of interest in 2005-06, when camelina acres peaked, in using camelina in jet fuel. A U.S. company received U.S. military funding to take this project further, but when some U.S. and Canadian farmers didn’t receive any or all of what was owed to them, they were left with a bad taste.

Since then, Three Farmers, a farmer-owned food company in Midale, Saskatchewan has been producing camelina oil and marketing it nationwide.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada also has a joint Camelina breeding program with Linnaeus Plant Sciences Inc. out of Saskatoon. The goal of this program is to breed for qualities that suit industrial oil markets like lubricants, motor oils, hydraulic fluids and polymers including increased oil content and larger seed size.

Camelina is a member of the Brassicaceae family. It’s an annual or winter annual, short-season crop. It responds similarly to Polish canola and mustard and yields somewhat similarly too. Research in Saskatchewan shows that it might be possible to seed camelina in the fall, but further study is needed.

Hairy vetch

Hairy vetch is a nitrogen-fixing legume native to Europe and Western Asia. This new crop is a favourite of Scott Chalmers, diversification specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at Melita, Manitoba. “Hairy vetch is impressive because it doesn’t compete with other crops for resources,” explains Chalmers. “It can be successfully double-cropped or intercropped with winter wheat or sunflowers to choke out weeds and fix nitrogen.” Chalmers also noted that hairy vetch appears to share nitrogen with the companion crop through root rhizosphere exudate associations.

Hairy vetch needs to be planted in the fall if it is to produce seed the following year; it will only produce vegetative growth if planted in spring. Chalmers is doing trials intercropping hairy vetch with sunflowers. “So far, it appears to be neutral to profits even taking into account the price of the seed,” says Chalmers. “What was really interesting was that it left 60 pounds of nitrogen in the soil versus only 12 pounds in the sunflowers-only plot.” Chalmers is also looking at the potential to produce hairy vetch seed in a winter wheat crop. “We need to understand if we can support a hairy vetch seed industry in Manitoba,” says Chalmers. “It looks at this point as if we can, and very profitably as well.”

The vegetative growth can be hayed or ensiled just like alfalfa, but the seed can be toxic to animals.

“There’s more research to be done with hairy vetch,” says Chalmers. “At this point, it does look like it has a good fit in a number of situations. We think it will work very well for organic producers as well.”

Carinata

Brassica carinata is an Ethiopian mustard that can grow on marginal lands and is finding a use in bio-fuels because of its high oil content. Agrisoma Biosciences is commercializing carinata for use in jet fuel. The first flight using jet fuel produced from carinata occurred in 2012 and research and development continues. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has a carinata breeding program with the goal of improving yield, disease resistance and other factors to make it successful for Prairie farmers.

Carinata agronomy is similar to that of canola and mustard making it a relatively easy crop to adopt into the rotation. It is well suited to those areas of southwest Saskatchewan and southern Alberta where canola is not a reliable performer. An important distinction between carinata and canola that may have greater importance in the future is the fact carinata is immune to blackleg and clubroot.

Guar bean

Sometimes a crop comes along that just doesn’t work… maybe more often than not. Guar bean is one of those. Just as consumer demands for healthy foods can drive production, so too can industrial demand.

The fracking oil industry uses guar gum extensively — the guar gum turns water into a very thick, viscous gel. Pumping high viscosity water down a well fractures the subsurface rock and releases the oil and natural gas trapped there. Additionally, sand is mixed with the high viscosity water and gets pumped into the fractures. When the pumping is stopped, the sand grains, known as proppants in the fracking world, hold open the tiny fractures in the rock and allow the oil and gas to continue to flow out of the rock and into the well.

Guar beans are annual legumes that are grown in India and Pakistan, and more recently, Texas. It’s a long season crop suited to hot, dry climates. Diversification specialists tried growing guar bean obtained from Texas in Manitoba — with spectacularly unsuccessful results. The seeds took three weeks to emerge and then remained in the cotyledon stage for three weeks. Six weeks later hardly a plant could be found among the mess of weeds that proliferated. Needless to say, it’s unlikely that Prairie farmers will be able to supply the fracking industry with the guar gum they so desperately need, but it’s interesting to understand how new crops can come to be tested for Prairie production.

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There is only one quinoa processor on the Prairies: Northern Quinoa Corporation. The company was created in 1994 by a farming family, the Dutchesons. “In the early ’90s, Dad began to experiment with quinoa on the farm,” explains Dutcheson, Joe’s eldest son and general manager at Northern Quinoa. “He’d learned about it at a diversification and special crops meeting. Quinoa caught his eye because it was frost tolerant and we’d had issues with frost damaged crops in east central Saskatchewan. Because Dad also worked as a pharmacist in the winter, he was intrigued by the nutritional benefits of quinoa compared to conventional grains.” Back then, NASA had even researched quinoa for long-term space mission provisions and found it to be the perfect astronaut staple because it is the only plant that contains all the essential amino acids.

Joe Dutcheson continued with his quinoa trials and found a variety that worked well on the Canadian Prairies. In 1994, Joe and a handful of other farmers and businessmen incorporated Northern Quinoa Corporation. But it wasn’t until 2010 that quinoa caught the consumer’s fickle eye and took off in popularity. That occurred for a number of reasons, but was not at all hampered by the fact that quinoa was featured on the Oprah television show and others.

Since then, demand has grown rapidly. The United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) named 2013 the International Year of Quinoa in recognition of the ancestral practices of the Andean who have preserved quinoa in its natural state as food for present day and future generations. This promotion of quinoa is part of an ongoing FAO strategy to encourage the continued cultivation of traditional or forgotten crops as a way of contributing to food security.

Which leads us to today. Global production of quinoa is estimated at 550,000 acres, the bulk of that in Bolivia and Peru. “Prairie production is the largest in the world outside South America,” says Dutcheson. “Our contracted acres hovered around 1,000 for a number of years. In 2013, we contracted 1,500 acres, 5,000 in 2014 and we are ramping up to 15,000 in 2015, a pretty steep growth curve for us.”

Quinoa 101

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) is not a true cereal, rather it’s a species of goosefood (Chenopodium) related to spinach and beets. It produces masses of seeds that can be harvested very much like a grain and processed like grains, and it’s been exploited by humans for thousands of years as a result. “We can mill, flake and puff quinoa just as we would any other grain,” explains Dutchshen. “It can be cooked like rice and a big part of its sustained popularity is its very versatility in North American or western kitchens.”

Most of the quinoa available in North America still comes from Bolivia. There, it is typically grown on salt flats, growing where when other plants won’t. It’s a large-seeded, white variety that, according to Northern Quinoa, tastes rather bland.

Joe Dutcheson began selecting for traits like earlier maturity, increased seed set, heat tolerance and even plant height, resulting in the variety NQ94PT receiving Canadian registration in 2014 after a decade of research.

Growing quinoa

New growers contracting with Northern Quinoa are advised to start with 50 to 100 acres in the first year. “Quinoa is more difficult to grow that a conventional cereal,” says Colin Dutcheson, field agronomist with Northern Quinoa. “While it has been grown traditionally on poorer land up in the Andes or in Bolivia, we advise our growers to put it on their best land.” The key to getting a good crop of quinoa is to seed it into a clean, firm seedbed. “Quinoa is a poor competitor against weeds,” he explains. “Additionally, there are no chemicals registered for use in quinoa. Quinoa is a special crop and requires special attention.”

The crop should be seeded early, and it will likely be the last crop harvested. “You may read it takes about 110 days for quinoa to mature,” says Colin Dutchshen. “Our experience is that will often stretch to 120-130 days and we advise growers to take this into consideration. However, it is frost tolerant and frost can actually be beneficial in bringing the plants to full maturity.”

Other tips to successfully grow quinoa include:

• Never seed quinoa after canola. Volunteer are a problem and the seeds are difficult to mechanically separate.
• Preferably, seed quinoa into summerfallow or after oats, peas or beans (oats are also gluten-free, like quinoa). Northern Quinoa prefers not to have quinoa seeded after wheat to ensure their product is gluten-free.
• Quinoa responds well to good fertility.
• Plan to seed soybean or another legume after quinoa.
• Yield can range from 300 to 2,000 pounds per acre, however, expect average yields in the neighbourhood of 1,000 pounds per acre.
• No special seeding or harvesting equipment is required.
• Quinoa will not tolerate heat blast stress at flowering, so most acres are near or north of Highway 16 for that reason.

“We work with growers over the winter as we contract our acres,” says Colin Dutcheson. “As well, we visit every grower twice in the growing season, usually after seeding and before harvest, and we are always available to answer questions and share our experiences with the crop.”

New growers who are interested in trying quinoa can find applications on Northern Quinoa’s website. In March, selected growers will be offered contracts. Growers interested in learning more about quinoa can visit Northern Quinoa’s website for information about its field days in both Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

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