You may have heard a word bouncing around lately: transparency. Lots of people from the President to business owners are talking about it. It’s all about not just telling the world the good things that are happening, but explaining the not-so-good things, too. And doing so before not-so-good things have a chance to become really bad things. People should be informed about the goings-on with the businesses they support.
That being said, Barkwheats is known for our ingredient procurement directly from the farmers. Well, on occasion there is a crop failure. In this case, our buckwheat and canola crops were planted too late and didn’t have time to blossom and while it really, really stinks, it happens. We try hard to not depend on one farm for an entire ingredient, but in the case of buckwheat and canola, it’s hard to have a few farms growing small amounts because it doesn’t make the venture worth it for the farmer.
It wasn’t the grower’s fault that it was planted late. He was owed money for his milk (the main commodity on this farm) and because this small organic milk processor couldn’t pay him, he didn’t have enough money to fill the tractor with gas. Barkwheats, unfortunately, was not in a position to provide him with the cash he needed, and so we suffer the consequences of another’s inaction.
We’ll be buying our organic buckwheat this year from The Birkett Mills in Penn Yan, New York. They get most of their buckwheat from farmers in up-state NY and PA and I think a little of Ohio, too.
There’s my bit of transparency today. Now, back to baking.
