It was five years ago this October that “The Mountaineer” started reporting on making farm fuel out of Safflower seeds. It was about that time that Andrew Long came along and the Oil Barn was born. It was very unusual to go out to the Quinn Farm and see a tractor fueled by safflower oil. It smelled like French fries as it plowed fields around the farm.
Since those early days the Oil Barn business has just grown and grown.
There are two major safflower oil contracts. One for the kitchens at MSU Bozeman, the other for the kitchens at The University of Montana in Missoula. That oil is used mainly in fryers and is then returned to the Quinn farm where it is cleaned and turned into fuel to use in the farming operation.
However, Andrew Long reports that there are several large national contracts that the Oil Barn services as well.
“There is a company based in Canada, called Lush Cosmetics,” said Andrew. “They have 400 stores around Canada and the United States. They use the oil for soaps, lotions, massage oil, things like that.”
Andrew said that a couple of weeks ago he was in a store in Anaheim, California and found a product that contained Oil Barn oil. Neat isn’t it? All the way from Big Sandy, Montana.
Andrew told the staff that he was the producer of the oil. They thought that was great!
“Pretty neat,” said Andrew.
The largest customer that the Oil Barn has shipped to is Eden Foods in Michigan. The Oil Barn sends Eden the oil in barrels. They bottle it and sell it under their own brand name.
“They are the biggest customer we have shipped to,” added Andrew.
There are no shortages of the oil as was experienced a couple of years ago. These days the Oil Barn oil can be found in many Montana grocery stores.
There are this year around 1500 acres of safflower in production, all of it in Chouteau County. The amazing thing about that 1500 acres of safflower is that it will make 50,000 gallons of oil. Andrew says that they have to keep some of the seeds back for the next crop of safflower.
“We could use all that 50,000 gallons of oil and more. We are now exploring some untapped sources for more growing of safflower,” said Andrew.
What started out as a project to make a wonderful oil and use it until it was no longer cooking oil quality has turned into something quite different with so many buyers wanting to make great products for consumers out of the oil as well.
And on the Quinn farm, Andrew said that the oil being used as fuel still smells like French fries.
There are six big presses running now in the Oil Barn to supply what is being supplied around North America.
Want to see the operation close up? Andrew invites anyone to attend the Quinn farm tour on July 9, 2016 which begins at 9:30am. Interested people will be able to see the oil pressed out of the seeds and turned into oil right in front of their noses.
Sounds like an interesting tour. Circle July 9 on your calendar.
