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Oatmeal is one key to success for a South Dakota farmer

A South Dakota farm family found success with a popular food item, which they take from the field to the spoon.

Taylor Sumption tells Brownfield he and his brothers raise about 500 acres of oats, which they process into oatmeal. “We developed a pretty broad line of oatmeals, flavored and multi-serve. We do a little bit of wholesale to some bakeries, breweries, and different things. We started really small and organic. We didn’t spend much of any money on marketing or anything like that.”

Sumption says the fifth-generation farm family does everything from growing and milling the oats to packaging their oatmeal varieties for consumers. “I would say we’ve passed 700 stores to date, so we’re on a good trajectory to keep growing.”

And, Sumption says the oatmeal operation helped reach another goal. “It’s exciting for me. I’ve always wanted to kind of vertically integrate. It’s been a good way for us to kind of rotate a cereal grain back into our crop rotation.” Sumption says he’s a big believer in value-added agriculture, keeping as much of the production, processing, and packaging money in small towns. He says farmers considering their own farm products or vertical integration should do a lot of homework, visit other farmers who have expanded their operations, and check with state leaders who can help with value-added farm development.

The Sumption family farms in Northeast South Dakota near Frederick.

Sumption says their Anthem oatmeal product line is also available online.