Latimer, Iowa (north central) | Mill will be an oats only facility. Taking raw oats direct from farmer investors at a $6.50 per bushel price and non-investors at a closer to market price. Cleaning the oats, dehulling, and kilning into oat groats which can be shipped out, or further processed onsite into steel cut, flakes, and flour.
Oats only facility to prevent gluten and allergen contamination. QR code level traceability and domestically sourced.
There are not many oats currently grown in north Iowa either but mainly due to the lack of a solid market. Kansas is pretty far south to get good test weights. We have been averaging 40.5 test weights at 136 bpa on the 2500 acres or so of oats I have grown the past couple years. I would consider north Iowa at the southern end of viable, milling grade, oat growing areas. Really helps the mills competitiveness to be closer to the domestic food supply chain though, being at the southern end of growing regions where logistics of transport are easier. Much less distance and not crossing an international border. There are other oat mills here but they are commodity based logistics and transport raw oats from greater distance. 40% of raw oats don’t make it into food products so 40% of what they transport 1000 miles is essentially low value millscreen. |
All crop update and oat mill field day
