KATiE TANNER FEBRUARy 2018 BCBusiness 33
permanent employee of
Surrey Board of Trade
member Dragon Mist, which
produced about 7,400 litres
of spirits last year. "Whatever
we need, they will give us."
Over the years, Jiang
has gotten to know Shaun
Grant, South Peace Grain
Cleaning's general manager.
The co-op …rst opened its
doors in 1963, but when
ex-rancher Grant took
charge in 2011, he set out
to diversify the business.
Besides supplying feed grain
to livestock producers in the
Lower Mainland, the co-op
began working with Dragon
Mist and other B.C. craft
distillers. Today its seven
staŽ ship wheat and rye to
more than a dozen, from
Squamish to Penticton.
"It's a smaller portion
of our overall business, but
it's one that we're really
excited about," says Grant,
who reckons that distillers
account for about 5 per cent
of gross revenue. "We think
we're going to be one of the
bigger suppliers of distilling
products over time." The
co-op also provides malt
barley to the province's fast-
growing craft beer industry,
Grant notes.
As the agriculture sector
consolidates, his out…t,
which handles between
16,000 and 18,000 tonnes
of grain a year, is "about as
small as you can be and still
be in this business," he says.
That can be a major advan-
tage for the Dawson Creek
Chamber of Commerce
member, Grant explains:
"The reason that we've been
so successful with the distill-
ers is because we're small,
and we'll take the time to
address their needs."
Grant, who hopes that
better rail access will make
the co-op a larger player in
the Lower Mainland feed
grain business, thinks urban
dwellers have become dis-
connected from their food
supply. He doesn't fault them
for this lack of knowledge,
and he predicts that the gap
will close as farmers get bet-
ter at telling their stories.
"The last few years there's
been quite an eŽort to reach
out on behalf of the rural
guys to try and explain what
we do," Grant says. "Our
distilling customers really
had no concept of how we
got this product to them and
what types of planning went
into this, but once you go
through that with them,
they understand our side of
the equation."
For Dragon Mist's Jiang,
high-quality South Peace
grain will be a selling point
when she eventually takes
her spirits to China, where
the growing middle class
seeks out Canadian food and
drink. But she's in no rush
to export, citing the need to
perfect her packaging for a
Chinese audience.
"First, we have to make
the distillery survive," Jiang
says. "Then we go further.
I don't want to overspend;
then we don't have cash to
buy grain." —N.R.
