ASSINIBOIA - Thirty years ago, a young and growing family helmed by Dean and Darlene Dosch made their way back home to Willow Bunch, Saskatchewan.
For Dean, a prairie kid and son of a farming family, the move home meant being closer to his parents and the chance to raise their two children the way they had always wanted, in a small community with a rural focus. For Darlene, an army kid who travelled from posting to posting, meant staying put and settling down.
The family farm that had been tended to lovingly by Delmar and Yvonne Dosch since 1960 had undergone a transition in 2000. Delmar and Yvonne had decided to leave behind the chemicals of conventional farming and had already transitioned their land to organic practices when Dean and Darlene came home to the farm life.
“Because of them we are organic farmers,” said Dean Dosch. “It was important we were taking care of the crops and doing something we loved.” Their love of the land and commitment not to use chemicals was a family choice from the start.”
“The ecosystem that exists on the land is important for health,” said Darlene. “We choose to not use chemicals because it’s important to us and the environment, but it’s also what our customers want.”
The Dosch family’s premier product is Dosch Organics Wheat Crunch, which is a snack food with the main ingredient being their home-grown organic Khorasan wheat.
“We really wanted a value-add for our Khorasan wheat. So, we created a product and customer base outside of the grain crop. It’s so great when we hear from our fans and friends in the community who love our Wheat Crunch,” said Darlene.
The Dosch family grew their Khorasan wheat crop, which was then cleaned and shipped to Saskatoon, cooked in organic high-oleic safflower oil, seasoned in a variety of organic flavours, and then packaged for resale. From the outset, Dean and Darlene wanted to process Wheat Crunch in their home community where the grain was grown and harvested but the high cost of a CFIA certified food processing operation was out of reach.
“When South Saskatchewan Ready announced their funding program, Darlene and I contemplated the possibility of moving our operations to our home community. After reviewing their funding program. we felt we could provide a return on investment to our home community of Willow Bunch and the region. We worked with the Town of Willow Bunch to secure a location at the old school in town and once we were approved for funding, we started in earnest to move our food processing operation to Willow Bunch. We are now processing food products here and we have a great deal of interest in supplying our product internationally. The future of Wheat Crunch looks very bright thanks to South Saskatchewan Ready,” said Dean Dosch.
“When South Saskatchewan Ready considered Dosch Organic’s application, we knew it was an important opportunity to prove that agrivalue food processing can happen in the rural region - economically, and compete with larger centres for food processing opportunities. This is proof positive and a critical food processing anchor in both the sector and region,” said Sharon Adam, chair of SSR.
