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Future plans

Canada remains a larger exporter of buckwheat than a processor. But that could change.

Fyk is continually testing new varieties looking for a larger seed more suitable for milling. He has varied seeding methods, with packer wheels versus floating the seed on. The latter, minus 60 pounds of fertilizer added to the packed crop, did better. Another area of study is trying to increase pollination rates on domestic buckwheat.

“Maybe there’s some tricks you can’t teach this old dog but maybe I can still learn some new tricks, too,” says Fyk with a grin. “We have a stone mill coming from Soba Canada. Stone milling is a slow process, producing more coarse flour, but great for soba noodles. If it runs faster than 14 revolutions a minute, the stone will heat. Another customer needs finer flour. The new mill would enable us to do approximately 1,000 pounds an hour.”

Although buckwheat arrives clean at the plant, a colour sorter removes any last gluten particles to maintain a high glutenfree standard.

“We commissioned MNP to do a business plan about five years ago when the plant opened that said dependency on glutenfree products will increase 12 to 15 per cent a year,” says Fyk.

One challenge may be changing the mindset of those using buckwheat in their products who believe the price will fall as more is grown. Fyk disagrees saying the marketplace has to pay more because buckwheat competes with other commodities for farm acres.

“COVID tightened demand for food. Food retailers could have kept prices higher, more in line with the real cost of farm production, but they didn’t train customers that food is cheap at the expense of farmers who take all the risk, with everyone down the line getting a free ride with a 25 per cent margin, give or take.”

Fyk still speaks his first language, an older form of Ukrainian taught by his grandparents. It’s helped him communicate with Ukraine and also with Canada’s newest Ukrainian immigrants, at least one he hopes to employ given their farm background. While he knows the world doesn’t go backward, resurgence could be positive.

“I wish I would have been a fly on the wall at the turn of the century when there was a home going up every quarter-mile. Today, our nearest neighbours are half-a-mile and three miles away. We farm today what 30 families farmed before. Do we need it?” he asks. “Maybe, given the way the world and economy is designed. However, I would still like to go back and have all those farmer neighbours.”