Suchan Wheat Weaving Supplies Company Information
Suchan Wheat Weaving Supplies is a new, family owned, small business located in south
central Idaho. The Suchan family has grown commercial hard red winter and hard red spring
wheats that are used for bread making for 35 years. In the early 1990's the idea of growing
wheat for the weavers began but the family was so busy farming and being involved with the
Idaho Wheat Commission work that there was no time to pursue the idea. Son Dave took over
the farming operation in 2001 and at that time the idea once again surfaced. In 2003
experimental plots were planted and in 2004 the family purchased the Straw Stix business from
Kevin and Sheila Park at Aberdeen, Idaho. This is our first year of selling wheat to weavers full
scale.
Location
Our farming location is on a high mountain desert plateau at an elevation of 4300 feet. We have mountains to the north and south of us and Snake River running through the 100 mile
wide plateau. We reside on the east end of the Magic Valley. Being a desert, our humidity is normally very low and additionally the area has
been experiencing a severe drought for the last 5 years. We have both and irrigated and a dryland wheat
operations. Our area grows sugar beets, famous Idaho potatoes, dry beans, garden bean seed,
sweet corn, alfalfa as well as hard red wheat, soft white wheats, malting barley and feed barley.
In all, southern Idaho grows over 40 different
crops in addition to large dairy and beef operations.
Business
In our wheat for weaving business, Dave does the growing and harvesting and his wife
Katie is his assistant. Donna, Daves mother does the weaving for local sales. The little boy in
the pictures is Anthony, Daves and Katies son. He is involved in everything. Our familys
goal is to plant the best varieties for growing in our area and to give our customers the best
product we can.
Processing
Harvesting is done with a restored McCormick grain binder. Dave had a sharp learning curve
when we first started to harvest. All of the grain is bound into shocks. It is then allowed to
field dry for a few days. Molding is not a problem because of the low humidity in our area. After the
grain has dried, it is then moved to our storage quonset. The grain is then hand sorted with the
obvious broken and damaged straws discarded. The straw is then cut to either a weavers sort (1
to 2 inches below the first joint) or to a rough sort (cut off below the 2nd joint). It is then
packaged and is placed in storage ready for shipment. Our goal is to ship a received order on
the next business day.
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