Dean Folkvord Sows, Grows, and Doughs It

by Marie Hoeffner

When Dean Folkvord decided his family wheat farm should “sow it, grow it, and dough it,’’ neighbors questioned his sanity. A decade later, Wheat Montana Farms and Bakery has proved it has the right ingredients for success.

Folkvord wanted the 13,500-acre wheat farm to do more than grow grain. He dreamed of baking breads and pastries, opening an outlet store with products fresh off the farm, and a deli just five miles from the farm near the Missouri River headwaters town of Three Forks, Mont. (pop. 1,728).

“People thought we’d lost it,’’ he says with a wide grin. “In retrospect, it was the best mistake we ever made.’’

Wheat Montana’s location at a busy interchange 30 miles north of Bozeman provides a lot of traffic. Patrons are intrigued by the shop’s signature silo at the entrance.

“We try to keep the farm scene alive from the moment you see us on the highway to the moment you finish your meal,’’ Folkvord explains.

Customers can stroll through the silo into the deli, pull up a tractor seat stool to enjoy a pastry, then browse around the shop full of grain products. “People buy into the farm-to-market concept,’’ Folkvord adds.

The idea for Wheat Montana began to germinate after Folkvord’s parents bought the farm and he graduated from Montana State University with an agriculture-business degree. The Folkvords and a business partner purchased a Bozeman bakery in 1987, then planted hard white spring wheat. This variety produces sweeter, lighter bread that’s still 100 percent whole wheat.

In 1990, the Folkvords bought out their partner and branded several varieties of specialty wheat. Wheat Montana Farms and Bakery was born.

Dean’s wife, Hope, serves as the company’s accountant and at the deli counter. Dale Folkvord, Dean’s 63-year-old father, manages the farm. Dean’s mother, Frances, doles out bread samples and recipes in supermarkets. Dean’s daughters, Hillary, 14, and Haylee, 8, help whenever they can.

The high quality wheat and grains are harvested and shipped to the “Wheat Plex’’—adjacent to the deli—cleaned and packaged for small bakeries or specialty wheat users, ground into flour for baking, or baked into bread, bagels, and buns. The flour sells in more than 500 grocery stores today.

Dean Folkvord credits their success to “bullheadedness. We’re not particularly smart people. But we’re lucky, and we watch what our competitors are doing. We’re persistent and we persevere,’’ he says.

Jack Rochford, a Three Forks bank president, describes Folkvord as productive, industrious, and bright.

“You’d look a long ways to find someone with a work ethic greater,’’ he says. And he cites Folkvord’s achievements as a champion bareback rider, bull rider, and wrestler.

Also an auctioneer, Folkvord was state livestock auctioneer champion. He won Montana’s annual Country Music Showdown, a music competition, singing I’ve Been Everywhere, an auctioneer song. He’s written music recorded by country singers, including Patty Loveless’ popular Can’t Stop Myself From Loving You.

In 1995, Wheat Montana earned a spot in The Guinness Book of World Records, setting the record for “field to loaf,’’ taking standing wheat and making it into 13 (a baker’s dozen) loaves of bread at the farm. Wheat Montana placed 13 loaves on the judges’ table in 8 minutes and 13 seconds, beating the previous record by 4 minutes.

The ever-changing market means Wheat Montana needs new, unique concepts such as a miniature fresh flour mill where shoppers can grind their own grain.

The business is still growing as fast as Wheat Montana grain. Folkvord now hopes to franchise the Wheat Montana bakery-deli nationwide, with stores already scheduled to open in Kalispell and Bozeman.

They’ll soon be doughing it throughout Montana, if all goes well.

Writer Marie Hoeffner ranches at Winston, Mont.

first appeared: 7/29/2001