If a picture is worth a thousand words, a tab label on a culturally-relevant and customer- friendly web page has got to be worth more, right? Head to fieldstoneorganics.ca and you’ll find front and centre – and layered over a flannelled and sun-kissed forearm with an outstretched hand freely grazing the top of a grain crop – a tab that reads Our Difference. Click on that tab and you’ll know straight away what motivates the Fieldstone Granary team. It’s their collective belief in the goodness of organics and whole grains. It’s their pride in healthy organic foods grown exclusively in Western Canada. It’s their partnerships with local farmers in British Columbia to grow the best crop on healthy soils for long term sustainability. It’s the knowledge that their market is no longer a niche market and that increasingly informed consumers want their food grown and handled without the use of chemicals, herbicides, pesticides or synthetic fertilizers. Fieldstone Granary benefits local communities not only in the Okanagan but throughout North America by providing delicious whole grains, legumes, and seeds for bulk, wholesale and retail consumers through their online store. In early December Spotlight on Business had the pleasure of speaking with Fieldstone Granary’s founder and owner Tony Van Den Tillaart and general manager Paula Siddons. Tony and Paula were more than eager to separate the wheat from the chaff as passionate representatives of British Columbia’s certified organic grain handling facilities.
By David MacDonald W hen Tony Van Den Tilaart retired fromdairy farming in 2007 he had no desire to quit farming. None. Tony’s a hands-on kind of guy. There’s no quit in him. “I’d always been interested in growing grains organically,” he explainedwith palpable excitement in his voice. “I’dbeen involved before my retirement with the local spelt co-op and from there myself and another local farmer decided to invest in the granary and start Fieldstone Organics.” Spelt is grain crop older than the Great Pyramid of Giza, which was constructed circa 2580 to 2560 BCE. Needless to say, it’s not a genetically engineered grain. But it sure is ancient. It’s also considered more nutritious than modern wheat. Willem Roell, the other local farmer, is widely considered instrumental in bringing the methods and infrastruc-
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JANUARY 2018 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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