Farmington...The birthplace of the Lentil
in the Inland Empire
It was in 1916 that J. J. Wagner planted
a small plot of lentils in the young orchard on his farm
south of Farmington, WA. J.J. threshed and cleaned the
seed from this plot by hand at harvesttime
and planted all of it the following year.
The 1917 crop, about an acre, was again
harvested and cleaned by hand. B.L. Gordon, a wholesaler
in Spokane offered 9.5 cents per pound for the lentils.
Proceeds from this sale came to $130.00 and was the first
commercial lentil transaction in the Palouse Empire.
In addition to this local market, J.J.
sold lentils to Loma Linda Foods in California and also
overseas to Australia. In a few short years the growing
of lentils had gone from a specialty item to a commercial
enterprise.
Today, Farmington has two privately owned
processing plants in operation. Lentils are now shipped
all over the world.
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BNP
Lentil Co.
10302 Farmington Rd.
PO Box 146
Farmington, WA 99128-0146
Dan Bruce, President
Telephone: (509) 287-2711
Fax: (509) 287-2910
E-mail: bnp.lentil@gte.net
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Wanooka Farms
1050 Wanooka Road
Farmington, WA
Manager: Loren Wagner
Fax: 208-268-2361
E-mail: wanooka@nidlink.com
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