By Alice McFarlane

Saskatoon company looking for more quinoa growers.

Oct 14, 2021 | 5:00 PM

MELFORT, Sask. — Health-conscious consumers are looking to an ancient grain for more protein and fibre.

That growing interest has Northern Quinoa Production Corporation (NorQuin) wanting to increase production in Saskatchewan.

The Saskatoon-based company wants farmers to consider quinoa as part of their crop rotation.

NorQuin farm services representative Lane Christianson said all of the cleaning and processing is done in Saskatchewan.

“It’s going to come off your field and go either to Melville or Carrot River cleaning facilities,” Christianson said. “From there it’s going to head into the north end of Saskatoon and that’s where they’re going to do all the production and all the packaging.”

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This season’s drought also had an impact on quinoa yields. Christiansen said quinoa needs about a third less water than a crop like canola.

“It can handle a little less moisture than canola,” he said. “An ideal growing season would start with rain at the start of seeding and again at flowering. Flowering is going to occur early in July so just kind of a couple shots of rain there is good.”

Christianson said quinoa requires about the same fertility as canola. He said some farmers have been working with some micro and macro additions which appear to have helped mitigate some yield reduction.

Straight cutting the crop is recommended, according to Christianson.

“We only recommend straight cutting it as it can germinate within 12 hours on a dewy night so sprouting can occur fast with a swathed crop so typically guys are desiccating and straight cutting,” he said.

Christianson recommends new quinoa growers start small with 80 acres or less. He added quinoa should not be grown after canola because it’s difficult to get canola out of quinoa in the cleaning process.

The 2022 contract prices have not been set yet, but Christianson expects prices to be higher than last year as there will be plenty of competition for acres.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @farmnewsNOW