Name:     Neil Koberstein	Profession:    Organic Foods Marketer
Relationship:  Karl Oregon line	Country:     United States of America
THE MINOT DAILY NEWS, online edition PO Box 1150 Minot. ND 58702 Consistent market By MARVIN BAKER, Staff Writer mbaker@ndweb.com ANAHEIM, Calif. ­ A familiar national brand name sold in Minot grocery stores liberally uses one North Dakota product in its packaging. Bob's Red Mill, Milwaukie, Ore., gets almost half the organic flax it sells across the country from North Dakota producers, according to Bob's Red Mill purchasing manager Neil Koberstein. Koberstein and several of his colleagues were manning a very active booth in the Anaheim Convention Center during Natural Products Expo West last weekend. The event is the largest organic trade show on the West Coast. According to Koberstein, 20 percent of the flax his company purchases comes from West Dakota Feed and Seed in Ross, while another 20 percent is delivered through SK Foods in Fargo. The remainder of flax the mill markets and sells comes from a variety of nationwide producers. All of the flax items sold by Bob's Red Mill, which include brown and omega whole flaxseed and whole and omega flaxseed meal, are organic. The latest nationwide ad running by Bob's Red Mill has a banner headline that states, "Flax Your Muscles." Koberstein said the quality of the flax coming from North Dakota is obvious year after year. He said anyone can have a good year, but with North Dakota producers, it's consistent. "We actually have a very good flaxseed meal,'' Koberstein said. "Two years ago it was tough to get organic omega flax, now conventional brown flax is tough." Koberstein's company actually produces about 400 products, 40 of them organic. The North Dakota flax milled and bagged in the greater Portland-area plant is getting across the country, into Canada, Japan and Saudi Arabia. Koberstein said he had also been purchasing organic buckwheat from Minn-Dak Seeds Ltd., in Grand Forks; however, he currently isn't receiving buckwheat from that company. Koberstein said the success of Bob's Red Mill relies on a simple concept ­ basic whole grains. He said there can be all the fads in the world, but eventually people understand that whole grains are important for their diets and they always come back to them. "There's no gimmicks, just basic foods,'' Koberstein said. "It's important for our health and for us to reach out and educate people." Koberstein, who has been going to Natural Products Expo West the past 16 years, said Bob's Red Mill booth is always active because people are becoming more aware of the importance of their health and want to learn more about the products. "People are naturally conscious of what they eat,'' Koberstein said. "Whole grains is a foundational development of our diet." Koberstein added one thing he has learned this year is that we, as a society, have lost our roots in agriculture. "If you drop a 50-pound bag of wheat out of an airplane around here, they wouldn't know what to do with it,'' Koberstein said. "But, if you did that in Afghanistan, they would quickly grind it into flour and consume it." He said flax is no longer a health fad, it will be a part of our diet for many years to come. In fact, Koberstein said the office women at Bob's Red Mill have what they call the "3 o'clock club.'' At 3 p.m., every day they take a break, but instead of having coffee or carbonated beverages, they put some ground flax meal in water or orange juice for their health. Bob's Red Mill products are available at Marketplace Foods and Miracle Mart grocery stores in Minot.