Ardent Mills, a top flour-milling and ingredient company, is launching its Great Plains Quinoa with the largest quinoa growing network in North America. The line includes seeds, whole grain flour, flakes, crisps, custom multigrain blends and mixes.

Ardent Mills began promoting quinoa as the star of its Ancient Grains line in 2007, as quinoa is recognized as a superfood. Working with quinoa farmers, the program will offer up to a two-year price guarantee and plans to bring transparency, ground breaking scale and the consistent quality needed to support the mainstream growth of quinoa with consumers, food manufacturers, bakeries, retailers, and restaurants in the U.S. and Canada.

"Ardent Mills is joining forces with North American quinoa farmers to ensure both supply and predictable pricing for quinoa whether as an entrée, side dish, in artisan-style bread or in many other culinary applications," says Bill Stoufer, Ardent Mills Chief Operating Officer. "We are always looking for ways that grains can nourish what's next for communities, customers and consumers. We are applying our leading food safety standards, operations expertise, grower and customer relationships to support the growth of this great tasting and nutritious food."

Quinoa usage has shown double-digit growth in entrées, sides, and kids' menus, according to Technomic Inc.'s MenuMonitor 2016 Left Side of the Menu: Soup & Salad Consumer Trend report. Additionally, sales continue to grow, as usage increases in a wide variety of applications.

“We are very excited about the relationship we now have with Ardent Mills,” says Joe Dutchesen, a farmer working with Ardent Mills. “We have seen the positive impact their commitment to double organic wheat acres has had on North American farmers and the organic wheat supply and know that level of commitment will have a similar impact in the quinoa market.”