Davidson Commodities Inc Information

Davidson Commodities distributes the PNW Co-op Specialty Foods to the stores and to regional chefs, and she adds, "We're really planning to go nationwide." PNW Farmers Co-op has 750 members, but Newbry says that among that number, roughly 250 members have active family-run farms that range in size from about 2,500 to 5,000 acres. They are mainly in the Palouse area but some stretch to the Rathdrum Prairie and near Spokane. Newbry says that although wheat remains the predominant crop, the co-op in the past four years has supplied more legumes to the U.S. market, including garbanzo beans, also known as chickpeas, which are rising in domestic popularity for use in hummus. "If you ate hummus in the last four or five years, there is a 90 percent chance the goods you were eating all came from south of Spokane," Newbry says. He adds that 10 years ago, the co-op sold 90 percent of its legume commodities overseas. Today, the split between export and domestic sales is about 50-50. About 30 percent of PNW's farmers have adopted a sustainable agricultural practice called no-till farming, he says, which means soil isn't turned over to kill weeds and prepare it to plant seeds. Jim Hermann, of RimRock Ranches General Partnership, a third-generation Genesee-area family business, is one of those farmers. In addition to wheat, RimRock grows PNW Co-op Specialty Foods crops, as well as garbanzo beans that are eventually sold to large food companies for hummus. "We also do the no-till, and we keep all the (harvested crop) residue on top," Hermann says. "We don't burn. Ten years ago, there would be a lot of ditches filled with dirt that eroded from farms. We used to plow, and go over the ground, and turn over the soil. We don't do that anymore." Although he says he misses seeing the rich, black soil, he also notes that tilling created "chocolate-covered streams," after tilled dirt eroded off the steep Palouse hills with rain or snow. Today, local streams are clear, "and that's huge for the environment," he says. Hermann says ...