Quinoa thrives in Idaho
Idaho is the largest growing area of quinoa in the United States.
Jeremiah Clark’s son was diagnosed with a gluten allergy, which resulted in the family being introduced to new gluten-free food.
“We looked at the box and it looked like something that would grow in Idaho, so we got some seed, played around with it, and after a couple of years we found a variety that worked really good in this area,” said Clark.
People all over the world enjoy the popular seed that originated years ago in the Andes Mountains.
It’s a crop that thrives in areas of South America that have a high altitude and cold climate, but it also thrives here in Idaho.
“We clean it, process it and sell it for table grade consumption.”
Clark opened American Mills in 2015 in Ammon, the facility cleans and packages quinoa it receives from 15 local farmers.
Because of this facility, Idaho is known as the largest quinoa growing area in the United States.
“This facility right here will be able to handle twenty million pounds of quinoa every year.”
American Mills has been operating in a 2,400 square foot facility, and because of the demand for quinoa, Clark decided it was time to expand the business into a larger 5,000 square foot cleaning plant.
Something that he says is a great benefit to local farmers.
“It’s really good for the farmers, farmers need a rotation, potatoes and grain is okay, but now we can add an extra rotation for some of the growers that are growing it.”
Although potatoes are the crop Idaho is known for currently, the production of quinoa in the state isn’t slowing down, so who knows what the top crop will be in the future.
