Purposeful Pancakes: OSU alumnus uses family farm to help FFA chapters

Tuesday, May 28, 2024

Media Contact: Sophia Fahleson | Digital Communications Specialist | 405-744-7063 | sophia.fahleson@okstate.edu

Within 10 miles of the Kansas-Oklahoma border, the DeWitt family operates Willow Creek Farms, a fifth-generation family farm that helps FFA chapters raise money for their programs and activities.

Steve Dewitt, who represents the fourth generation, works part time on the farm and has been the leader of the farm’s business expansion.

“I grew up on my family’s farm in Braman, Oklahoma, and reside there today,” DeWitt said. “Growing up, I was always involved on the farm and was interested in working on it later on.”

However, when the economy in the 1980s did not allow DeWitt to enter the family’s business, he chose college.

He attended Oklahoma State University and earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education in 1985. He taught high school agricultural education for one year before returning to OSU to earn an additional bachelor’s degree in finance in 1989.

DeWitt went to work for Koch Industrires until 2000. He then transitioned to working for WB Johnston Grain in Enid, Oklahoma. Two years later, he went back to teaching agricultural education in Braman. In 2004, he returned to work at Koch Industries, where he still works almost 20 years later.

During this time, DeWitt and his wife, Janie, had three sons: Dane, Drew and Dylan.

Willow Creek Farms is the DeWitts’ diverse operation, raising cattle and producing wheat, sorghum, and soybeans. Steve DeWitt operates the farm with his three sons and his father, Garold DeWitt.

After decades of operation, Steve DeWitt switched to no-till farming in 2015 and focused on regenerative farming to help build up and create healthier soil.

“I saw the connection between having healthy soil and producing healthy food and got the idea to start creating our products,” Steve DeWitt said. “I chose to start with a pancake mix because it only involved three ingredients and was a simple way to get into food production.”

He sought assistance through the OSU Robert M. Kerr Food and Agricultural Products Center to develop a pancake mix made from his family’s wheat.

“I heard about the assistance FAPC provides from one of my friends,” Steve DeWitt said. “I also toured the facility as an agricultural education instructor and was familiar with the center’s work.”

FAPC employees Renee Albers-Nelson and Andrea Graves assisted Steve DeWitt in different steps throughout the creation of his product.

“They helped me with finding a co-packer, reviewing my recipe, labeling issues and answering any questions I had,” Steve Dewitt said.

FAPC serves as a resource to help with product development, said Albers-Nelson, FAPC milling and baking specialist.

Steve DeWitt attended FAPC’s “Playing in the Dough” workshop which helped him gain more knowledge about starting a company and creating a product.

“This workshop is the basic training to food entrepreneurship,” Albers-Nelson said. “It is like a crash course.”

Steve DeWitt’s daughter-in-law, Tori DeWitt, also attended the workshop and assisted him in creating the recipe for the pancake mix. After the workshop, the family established Willow Creek Farms Pantry, a brand name to identify the food products produced by the family’s farm.

After creating the recipe for the mix, Steve DeWitt met with Brady Sidwell, co-founder of Chisholm Trail Milling in Enid, Oklahoma.

“After three months of trials, I developed the pancake mix during the fall of 2022,” Steve DeWitt said. “I took my wheat to Brady to be milled into whole grain, stone-milled flour and then to our co-packer, Deep Fork Foods in Beggs, Oklahoma.”

Deep Fork Foods mixes and packages the pancake mix. After production, Steve DeWitt searched for his target customers and how to market to them.

“I got the idea that the perfect market was Oklahoma FFA chapters, and they would provide us with the volume of production needed,” Steve DeWitt said. “We set up a booth at the Oklahoma FFA state convention and started handing out samples to get people to try our product.”

Steve DeWitt and his family have been connected with FFA for many years. He was an active member in his hometown FFA chapter, which led him to pursue a degree in agricultural education.

All three of his sons also were heavily involved in agricultural education and the FFA programs at their schools.

In July 2023, Steve DeWitt formed a relationship with DJ’s Fundraising to add his pancake mix to their line of fundraising products.

This opportunity allowed Willow Creek Farms Pantry to sell through more than 100 FFA chapters. Their products have been sold in Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.

“When we first started, our packaging was made out of craft paper with a zipper and a hand-printed label,” Steve DeWitt said. “After I formed our relationship with DJ’s Fundraising, we moved to an updated printed bag.”

The new packaging is a three-pound bag that displays the Willow Creek Farms Pantry logo and the pancake mix name: Heritage Pancake and Waffle Mix.

“Our pancake mix received its name from the type of wheat we grow,” Steve DeWitt said.

When Steve DeWitt got into regenerative farming in 2015, he became interested in learning about heritage wheat varieties. DeWitt decided Turkey Red was the variety he wanted to start growing at Willow Creek Farms.

“Turkey Red first came to Kansas in 1873 when it was brought by German Mennonite immigrants from the Crimea region,” Steve DeWitt said. “Those seeds were first planted in 1874 and were the dominant wheat variety in the Kansas and Oklahoma area up until the 1930s.”

Steve DeWitt also wanted to grow a more modern variety of wheat to blend with the Turkey Red, he said.

“As an OSU graduate and native Oklahoman, I wanted to use an OSU-developed wheat,” Steve DeWitt said. “After a lot of testing, the hard white wheat variety called Big Country, which OSU and Oklahoma Genetics Inc. released a few years ago, blended perfectly with the Turkey Red.”

This information about his wheat is highlighted on the product package.

“Steve does an amazing job showcasing how unique his product is,” said Graves, FAPC business and marketing specialist. “The package shows the time and hard work Steve put into crafting his product.”

The pancake and waffle mix is available online through the farm’s website or can be purchased from one of the seven stores that sell their products. Other Willow Creek Farms Pantry products include hard white wheat flour and maple syrup.

“We are working to expand our product line,” Steve Dewitt said. “We have some ideas in the works to create more baking mixes.”

Willow Creek Farms and the Willow Creek Farms Pantry are working to create whole grain, minimally processed products everyone and their family can enjoy, Steve Dewitt said.

Story by: Paisley Sturgill | Cowboy Journal