ELIE, Man. – Beyond the massive stacks of bales rising like pyramids near the Isobord strawboard plant, past the red rows of seeding equipment from Valmar Airflo’s manufacturing plant, a new landmark is rising on the flat horizon near this bustling small town just west of Winnipeg.
Prairie Flour Mills Ltd. is small, but it’s new and that makes it an international rarity, according to general manager Brigitte Leitgeb.
She said the company is getting calls from millers around the world, lusting after the chance to work in a new mill built by Buhler, a company known for making the Cadillacs of flour mills.
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In fact, the $5 million mill almost smells like a new car. The maze of shiny pneumatic tubes through which wheat travels is barely dusted with fine flour.
When it’s running at full capacity, the mill will turn 120 tonnes of wheat into 90 to 100 tonnes of flour each day.
Buhler employees, millwrights from Ontario, and Johan Moorlach, the miller hired from the Netherlands, are doing the final tests and making the last adjustments to the mill.
The idea for the mill germinated in the late 1980s with Leitgeb’s father Johann, who thought farmers should sell flour to people rather than holding back their low-priced wheat, as they waited for price improvement.
Six area farmers carried out the idea and raised most of the money for the mill, with help from Man Agra Capital Inc.
The farmers are even the general contractors for the project, drawing on individual strengths and practical experience.
Half a dozen people will work at the mill when it’s running. But during testing, the mill is a hive of activity.
Someone’s making a run into Winnipeg for parts. The salesperson stops in to talk to Leitgeb about samples. A farmer pops by for a quick tour. The phone rings at least once every five minutes.
The mill will be competing on quality and service, so Leitgeb said they are taking their time to make sure everything works right.
“We waited so long and it’s so easy to lose a reputation,” she said.
When Moorlach presses a series of commands to start the mill, using his mouse and computer, a huge rumble reverberates through the building. The mill fills with an aroma like warm breakfast cereal.
Moorlach can run the mill remotely from his home in Elie, through a modem hookup.
As he explains the inner workings of the mill to a visitor, a Buhler employee in Minneapolis makes some adjustments. The cursor moves around his screen as some invisible hand miles away takes over.
The wheat and flour move through the mill with air. From 85-tonne raw wheat bins outside, the cold wheat travels to the top of the mill and is warmed with steam.
After traveling through cleaning screens, the wheat goes back to the top. A microwave sensor checks moisture content and adds water to top it up to 16 percent moisture.
The wheat is conditioned for about 24 hours, said Moorlach, until the bran is like rubber and the outside layer of flour like chalk.
It goes through another series of screens to remove foreign material loosened during the tempering process.
Then the wheat goes through a series of rolling mills, removing the flour, until all that’s left is the dark bran, which is ground for animal feed.
Most of the flour will go into the food service industry, said Leitgeb, like the pizza trade or bagel market. Supermarket sales will be a small part of the mill’s business.
The mill has sourced some wheat from area farmers. It’s looking for Canadian Western Red Spring varieties with 14 percent protein or less and up to 15 percent moisture.
Leitgeb said the mill will offer farmers some trucking and storage premiums, but because it must buy through the Canadian Wheat Board, it can’t contract directly with farmers.
“It’s an added layer of bureaucracy,” she sighed.
