NCI Cereal Innovators Webinar Series | Featuring David Oien

David Oien, Co-Founder and CEO of Timeless Seeds, Inc.

Each month, NCI updates the “Cereal Innovators” series that offers insight into the world of baking and cereal grains. During the webinar, participants heard from David Oien, Co-Founder & CEO of Timeless Seeds, Inc. He presented on his business and how they’re advancing the trend towards fully organic ways of farming. And, why consumers are beginning to adopt this organic food trend.

David began by introducing his company, Timeless Seeds, Inc. Timeless was started 35 years ago as a mission-driven business, and was founded by four young and, as he stated, “idealistic” Montana farmers. Their goal was to create a business to grow, process, and market certified-organic lentils, chickpeas, and heirloom grains. Their mission is twofold: “To transform the way farmers and people eat and to benefit the health of the planet and its inhabitants.”

The grain elevator in Conrad, Montana that Timeless moved to in 1994.

The operation that would ultimately become Timeless Seeds, Inc. began on Oien’s personal farm. Using used equipment, he and his partners worked tirelessly to support their vision for their new venture. This would ultimately pay off, as they were discovered in 1994 by Trader Joe’s at a trade show in California. Trader Joe’s expressed interest in carrying the farm’s products, which resulted in them moving the business off of Oien’s farm and to a grain elevator in Conrad, Montana after securing sufficient funds. This was primarily done through crowdfunding measures by friends and family of the group.

In 2006, Whole Foods discovered their products from competitor Trader Joe’s. Upon doing so, they requested to carry them as well, which expanded the business by an even greater amount. They purchased an abandoned seed plant in Ulm, Montana, and retrofitted it to suit their needs. They remain in that exact space today, though it has since been updated and expanded to allow for greater production capacity. One of the more notable improvements to the plant was completed in January 2019 in the form of a 50-kW photovoltaic system being installed. Since the installation of this system, 201 Megawatts of electricity have been generated for the plant, and an estimated 14.7 tons of CO2 have been avoided being produced.

Farmers who are part of Timeless’ supply chain.

Timeless’ supply chain now includes over 40 certified-organic farm families in Montana alone. Most of the farmers at the center of these operations are younger than those who manage traditional farms, which Oien believes speaks to the attraction of organic farming to younger people. This attraction has been part of Timeless’ growth in more recent years, and that has allowed them to branch out into other areas of agriculture, like providing agronomy services to growers.

Timeless now primarily works with growers to produce organic crops, and they themselves clean and package these products to be sold in a variety of locations. These include restaurants, stores, food manufacturers, and even export destinations. Campus dining halls in the region and hospitals/healthcare facilities also utilize products packaged by Timeless, making this business have reach in nearly every sector of the culinary world.

Trade mission from Latin America that Timeless hosted last October.

Another business that Timeless has now expanded to is the hosting of and participating in trade missions from around the world. People come and explore the capabilities of companies such as Timeless, and can potentially become new customers for the business. This fostering of relationships between businesses like Timeless has been a big driver of the increased adoption of organic products worldwide.

Oien refers to the products his business packages and markets as “food that feeds the imagination.” These products include a wide variety of lentils, chickpeas, barley, and more. These are foods that have low carbon footprints and are very nutrient-dense, two very important characteristics to those adopting organic food diets. Lentils specifically are the biggest focus for Timeless, thanks to their resilience (they’re both frost- and drought-resistant), high value as a rotational crop for farmers, ability to build organic matter in the soil, and many other benefits.

Carbon footprint of common foods per kilogram consumed.

Lentils are also an excellent grain to incorporate into one’s cooking. They can be cooked in as little as 5 minutes under certain conditions, and are extremely versatile. They can be added to soups, salads, appetizers, desserts, and many main courses. Eating lentils is also beneficial from a diet perspective, as their high protein, dietary fiber, and minerals pair well with their low cholesterol content (in addition to being non-GMO and gluten free). And, on top of these benefits, they also have a very low carbon footprint per kilogram consumed. Despite this and the other positive aspects listed above, lentil consumption remains relatively low compared to meat and wheat – though, as has been mentioned, their consumption is on the rise.

The Northern Crops Institute greatly appreciates David Oien’s professional input and involvement in our webinar series. At NCI, we continue to fulfill our mission to support regional agriculture and value-added processing by conducting educational and technical programs that expand and maintain domestic and international markets for northern grown crops.          

For more information about future webinars offered at NCI, click here.         

To view the webinar, click the recording below.