A former North Bay resident says he'd like to establish a quinoa processing plant in northern Ontario.
Jamie Draves is the co-owner of Quinta Quinoa and says he's looking at either North Bay or New Liskeard to build a new facility.
"It's for processing and packaging of quinoa," the told BayToday while at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair.
"We hope that the facility could also expand in the future to other crops and other superfoods. My heart is still in northern Ontario having grown up there, so it makes for a really good fit. We're optimistic we'll be building and ready to go in this next year."
Draves says initial discussions have already taken place as to location.
"It depends on how big it gets but initially we'll employ five to seven but it could easily expand up to 20 with the different things we are looking at."
Quinoa is considered a superfood but Draves says the Ontario crop his company produces is special.
"It has four times the minerals, twice the protein, and twice the fibre than all other quinoas so we actually have more iron than liver, more calcium that cow's milk and the protein quality is equivalent to eggs."
While some has been grown in the North Bay area, Draves is presently using product grown in the Matheson area, with some from Owen Sound and some from four other provinces.
It all started 12 years ago when Draves hit a health crisis.
"I was diagnosed with idiopathic pancreatitis which has no known cause, cure or treatment. I was losing weight and low functioning. After losing a third of my pancreas they pretty much wrote me off," he explained.
"So I went out with my own healthcare team and focused on a very restrictive diet and quinoa was a staple. That's when my weight started to balance and I started to improve my health. That was my trigger to drive my passion in pursuit of developing a superior quinoa here in Canada."
Draves says it took five years to develop the variety and production but in 2017 the product was starting to get into stores.
"We've had unbelievably great support from northern Ontario and that's helped us to get to the stage now where we are in all Sobey's and Foodlands across Ontario and still expanding from there."
He says the reaction from people trying his quinoa has been very good.
"It's funny, because there are people that like quinoa and they are trying ours and liking it, even more so especially the nutrient content. But there's another Canadian quinoa that they've tried and it tends to be sticky and bitter. So they'll come up and say 'I don't like quinoa ' and I'll say 'try this one' and they fall in love with it."
Draves credits Fednor for providing support for his business. The government agency sponsors a northern Ontario pavilion at the fair, and invites northern businesses to showcase their wares.
"Fednor has been incredibly supportive through the Royal Winter Fair. They give an environment that sets us up for success before we even start," Drave said.
