We founded Barkwheats in late 2007 with the inspiration of our two black lab mixes, Baxter & Sabine, their grain-free nutritional needs and the desire to support small-scale, organic agriculture in our home state of Maine.

We wanted a wholesome dog biscuit that actually helped treat some common problems that dog parents deal with, like bad breath, gas, and anxiety. We created a grain-free biscuit because that’s the way dogs are meant to eat, choosing buckwheat since it is easily grown in Maine. Our buckwheat flour is milled by us on a buckwheat-only mill and we produce the biscuits in a dedicated gluten-free bakery, which means that you can feel confident that there will be no cross-contamination with any grains in Barkwheats. We chose other ingredients that are easily produced in Maine and have great nutritional value, such as parsley, sea vegetables, pumpkin, blueberries, sage, chamomile, lavender & honey. Learn about the health benefits of each ingredient by clicking here or watch our video to learn why buckwheat is not a wheat.

In order to support small-scale agriculture in Maine, we purchase ingredients directly from family farmers. We put a lot of stock in knowing where each ingredient comes from and who is responsible for producing it.  We were first inspired to create a ginger biscuit since it helped to alleviate car anxiety in our dog, Sabine, but since ginger cannot be grown in Maine, we began working with a small group of farmers in Belize to grow it for Barkwheats.  We visited Belize in April 2009, so that we could also shake hands with our ginger farmers like we can with our local Maine farmers! Our "Ginger & Parsley" biscuit is now officially the first pet product on the market to carry the Fair Trade Certified™ label, meaning the dollars you spend on this biscuit help provide a living wage to the farmers in Belize! Learn about many of the farmers harvesting our ingredients by clicking here.

Our biscuits are one step away from the soil in which the ingredients were grown, giving you the peace of mind in knowing your dog's safety is thought of every step of the way.  Healthy ingredients direct from the farm.

We really appreciate your business and thank you for visiting!

P.S. Curious about the colorful dogs gracing our packaging and this website? They are the beautiful work of Folk Dog artist Abby McMillen of Bozeman, Montana, and she will happily paint a custom portrait of your dog too! Tell her Barkwheats sent you!

At Barkwheats, we are proud to use organic buckwheat - a berry, not a grain - that will not aggravate or cause wheat-allergies in your dog. Since buckwheat is not a grain, it is safe for dogs with gluten-intolerance.  We mill the buckwheat berries on a buckwheat-only mills and produce the biscuits in a dedicated bakery, which means that you can feel confident that there will be no cross-contamination with any grains in Barkwheats. Watch our video to learn more about buckwheat.

Grains first appeared in pet foods about 70 years ago when consumers wanted the convenience of pet food in a bag and manufacturers wanted to reduce costs by using inexpensive fillers. Although grains such as wheat provide low-cost calories, dogs did not evolve to digest grains.  Veterinarians are increasingly citing grains  as primary causes of health problems common in dogs, such as allergies, skin/coat problems, obesity, diabetes, kidney stones, and behavior issues.  In addition, the majority of pet food recalls over the past 10 years have been due to contaminated grain products: glutens, corn, wheat & rice.

Despite the fundamental purpose of pet food to provide nourishment, the “grain” approach to pet nutrition is still widely practiced due to the lower cost, ready availability and long shelf life they provide. Unfortunately, your dog can suffer as a result of this.

When you treat your dog to Barkwheats, though, you can know you are feeding a healthy biscuit from a company that values a natural, grain-free diet.

Photos: (top) Our organic buckwheat growing in northern Maine, Summer 2009.  (bottom) Buckwheat berries being milled into flour in our dedicated grain-free mill.

Our packaging is a 100% recycled box and a biodegradable bag made of wood pulp, both of which should be thrown in your home compost or woodstove when finished.

Why Compost? Every time you throw away a banana peel, carrot peels, or any food scraps, you're throwing away a precious resource! Things like kitchen scraps, newspaper, paper egg cartons, cereal boxes, garden clippings and the like can be turned into a natural soil amendment we call compost. Since our box is made of 100% recycled paperboard and printed with vegetable based inks, you can toss this right into your compost bin.  The inner bag of Barkwheats is made from the cellulose of sustainably harvested cottonwood trees. The cellophane is the NatureFlex™ line from Innovia Films.  It will break down in 4-6 months, adding nice brown matter to your compost, helping achieve that perfect mix of brown to green matter.

To learn more about the film that we use and how, as of January 2008 it is now carbon neutral in its production, read this Life Cycle Assessment press release from Innovia Films.

Barkwheats are as healthy for the earth as they are for your dog!

Below is a series of photos showing our Barkwheats inner cellophane bag breaking down in a NatureMill home composter in just 7 days! You can click on each thumbnail to view the full-sized photo.

Photos courtesy Abby McMillen

Did you know that our Ginger & Parsley flavor biscuits are the first in the pet industry to carry the Fair Trade Certified™ mark? Thanks to our collaboration with Sustainable Harvest International and their farmers in southern Belize, we are able to source the freshest organic ginger and help provide a living wage to these hard-working families!

Fair Trade Certification empowers farmers and farm workers to lift themselves out of poverty by investing in their farms and communities, protecting the environment, and developing the business skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace. Fair Trade is much more than a fair price! Fair Trade principles include: fair price, fair labor conditions, direct trade, democratic and transparent organizations, community development, environmental sustainability.

Please take a few minutes to watch this video we took while visiting our ginger farmers in Belize in May 2009. Mariana Shol is the principle farmer on her land and grows ginger for Barkwheats Dog Biscuits. We are here talking with her, smelling the ginger straight from the ground...

Please visit TransFair USA to learn much more about Fair Trade Certified™
and why you should look for this label next time you shop! When you
purchase products bearing the Fair Trade Certified label, you vote with your
dollars to help improve lives for farmers and farm workers throughout the
developing world. Thank you.

Barkwheats supports organic agriculture through the creation of our dog biscuits. Organic agriculture promotes a healthy ecology by keeping chemicals out of the soil, preventing soil erosion and maintaining a diverse landscape. While lots of biscuit makers focus on organic ingredients, few take the time, resources and money to involve local farmers in the creation of their product. More than 95% of the ingredients in Barkwheats come from neighboring farms. Our biscuits are one step away from the fields in which the ingredients were grown.

We are unable to purchase ginger locally, so we teamed up with Sustainable Harvest International in Surry, Maine, to began sourcing our organic ginger directly from their group of farmers in southern Belize. Our 'Ginger & Parsley' flavor is the first and only pet product to carry the Fair Trade Certified™ label.

In addition to the choices we make to produce an environmentally-friendly product with compostable packaging, we are also proud to use energy from the Mars Hill Wind Farm, select 100% recycled paper for our print projects, and use the most energy efficient equipment we can to run our facility. These are all simple choices that go a long way to creating a sustainable environment.