Grain power: Ronan-based cooperative selling Montana-grown gluten-free flour.

• Author: Joyner, Amy
• Position: Amazing Grains Grower Cooperative, Ronan, Montana

With a membership that includes 55 growers throughout the Northwest, a Ronan-based company has brought to market a little-known, yet highly sought after agricultural product.

Indian rice grass, a native but nontraditional crop for Montana farmers, is milled and packaged at Mission Mountain Market, a partially grant-supported business incubator in Lake County. Created July 1, 2001, as a nonprofit corporation, Amazing Grains is marketing the product under the trade name "Montina."

"The nutritional benefits are great. But what's most important is that it is flavorful," says Bob Warren, the general manager of the Amazing Grains Grower Cooperative, of which 47 members are Montana growers. The cooperative has just three employees and a technician is available to help new growers get started.

Flavor is important, Warren points out, because Montina's target buyers are mostly people who are intolerant to wheat gluten, a compound found in wheat barley and rye. These people have diets that are severely restricted, and the breads they usually eat are not known for their hearty taste.

Gluten intolerance can lead to Celiac Disease, a condition that diminishes the body's ability to properly absorb nutrients in the small intestine. Two Montina products on the market may work as a substitute to traditional flours: Montina Pure rice grass flour and an all-purpose gluten-free baking blend, which includes white rice flour and tapioca flour.

"The reality is that the people who need this are the people we are selling to," Warren surmises. "If you are tired of no flavor and no texture, Montina is for you."

Indian rice grass is a perennial crop that does not have to be planted every year, as is the case with most currently marketed cereal grains. Yields are minimal the first year and then are "normal" at perhaps 400 pounds per acre for the life of the stand. A dry land Indian rice grass stand is productive for about five years before needing replanting. Irrigated production averages 600 to 800 pounds per acre.

Amazing Grains allows its members to plant Indian rice grass as reclamation seed, Warren notes. "By virtue of this being a co-op, the growers not only grow the product, but as a company, we take it out into the market. As a nonprofit cooperative, all profits beyond growth and operations are divided among partners in the co-op," he adds.

Research on commercial uses of Indian rice grass...