Wild rice has been a hidden treasure in northern Manitoba that many people enjoy eating. Monarch Wild Rice has been processing out of its plant in The Pas and is starting to get its product on store shelves. Ken and Heather Medwid got involved in wild rice processing by chance and have invested to grow the business.
“About eight years ago, I bought into the wild rice processing plant in The Pas and since then, I acquired the plant and bought out the last partner four years ago,” said Ken. “Processing wild rice started in about the 1970s in The Pas in the Quonset. Then, in the early 1980s, a bigger building was built, with the processing part being quite modern with more equipment than other plants had.