Glenn and Linda Pizzey weren’t starting from scratch when they founded what would become one of the largest providers of processed flaxseed in North America. The Pizzey family, after all, has called western Manitoba home for more than a century, making their living growing and processing crops—including flaxseed—over several generations.

The two of them have long believed in the nutritional power of flaxseed. Glenn grew it on the farm and soaked up all he could at industry meetings, even when many thought it was a dead-end crop.