Finnish Quinoa for Europe

Amongst other crops, Juha and Kari Raininko farm quinoa in Finland – for the brothers the plant of the future and for the European market an alternative to imports from South America. The brothers are also successful with the rest of their products.

In Finland there are over 5,000 organic farms farming on around 297,000 organically certified hectares. Impressive are the additional 12 million hectare organically certified wild collection area – the biggest area worldwide. Blueberries and cranberries are the most important products collected. However, the most important export good for the Finish organic market is oat. Most of it is sold to other European countries, with the main customers being Germany, France, Denmark and Sweden.

Organic farmer Juha Raininko also cultivates organic oats on around 240 hectares. On his total of 620 hectares, he has been exclusively farming organically since 1995. Together with his brother Kari, he has specialized in cereals, growing rye in addition to oat, as well as field beans, peas and clover for fertilization. And something very special: organic quinoa. What began in 2009 on one hectare and was laughed at as romantic nonsense is now a full success. Today, he can harvest up to two tons per hectare annually. The grain is undemanding, Raininko does not have to water it and the plant can cope with temperature fluctuations relatively well. The midnight sun is also beneficial for it.

Plant of the future

The quinoa is marketed through the SunSpelt brand. Sales partner Kari Kaipainen has it in his assortment alongside his organic spelt products. For both, quinoa is the plant of the future. “People will eat more and more plant-based diets. Protein and gluten-free products play a major role in this”, explains Juha Raininko. Another particular advantage of Finnish quinoa is that less CO2 is produced when it is transported from Finland to other European countries than when it is imported from South American countries.

In addition to quinoa, Kari Kaipainen sells around 20 spelt products, including puffed spelt, muesli flakes, crispbread with blueberries, spelt liquorice and bran. He sells 200 tons of spelt within a year. His products can be found in the organic supermarket chain Ruohonjuuri in the large department store Stockmann, in regional shops and at organic supermarkets. The puffed spelt was awarded “Organic Product of the Year” by the Finnish Organic Federation in 2018.

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