IQ Magazine_Q4_20212_Smude Enterprises

Smude’s Sunflower Oil Pierz, Minn.

By Maria Surma Manka

A 2007 drought spurred Tom Smude to consider a more resilient crop than corn and soybeans. When he learned of sunflowers’ hardiness and its oil’s health benefits, Smude decided to try and sell the oil for use in products such as potato chips. He began his oleic sunflower operation near Pierz in 2009.

The beginning was bumpy. Machines overheated, dust got into the production line and the oil’s price plummeted. So Smude turned to the virtually untapped consumer market.

It was a smart move. Smude’s Sunflower Oil gained popularity at local stores and farmers markets, where devotees purchased it to pop popcorn, fry fish and bake. Word-of-mouth praise led to media attention and calls from Minnesota’s largest grocers and restaurants. Today, the company has expanded its product line and will be bottling in a new 23,000 square-foot warehouse. We asked Smude to give us the lowdown on his unique product.

Horse Sense

Customers include high-end horse breeders, who feed the low-volume, high-calorie oil to horses training for the world’s premiere events, including the Kentucky Derby.

Hlgh Yield

A good yield per acre of sunflowers is about 70 gallons, which makes approximately 560 bottles of oil. Smude’s several hundred acres of sunflowers can yield upwards of 70,000 gallons of oil a year.

Sound Investment

The Initiative Foundation and other local partners assisted with the financing to purchase four pressing machines and one filter from Germany.

Waste Not

Smude’s process uses the entire seed. It first passes through an auger that strips half of the hulls and then goes through a press to extract the oil. There are three byproducts: the oil, which is filtered and bottled; a meal, which is sold as cattle feed; and dehulled shells, which are sold for livestock bedding.

Hair Care

Smude’s Therapeutic Massage Oil was added to his product line when customers told him they rubbed his cooking oil into their hair and skin because of its high vitamin E content. Available in lavender and peppermint, both are grown and harvested in northern Minnesota.

To Market

Byerly’s and Coborn’s currently carry the oil and it is distributed by SuperValu to the seven-state Upper Midwest region. Smude also ships to customers in 48 states.

Team Effort

Smude employs two full-time machine operators and four part-time bottlers, as well as marketing consultants. “We need everyone to make this operation run,” he said. “Blue collar, white collar and part-time retirees.”

Hearth Healthy

Oleic sunflowers create one of the healthiest cooking oils available: The oil has no trans fat, is high in “good” monosaturated fat and low in “bad” polyunsaturated fat. In fact, some of Smude’s customers are heart patients whose doctors recommend it for cooking.