Agricultural entrepreneur trademarks Egyptian grain, bolsters organic movement

Big Sandy farmer Bob Quinn’s introduction to an ancient Egyptian grain was at the Chouteau County Fair.

"I was in junior high school and an older man, whose last name was Dedman, was passing out what he called King Tut’s wheat as a novelty," Quinn recalled. "He claimed a friend of his son’s found the grain in a stone box in Egypt."

By JO DEE BLACK
Tribune Staff Writer

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20040718/localnews/869374.html

Fifteen years and three college degrees later, Quinn was operating a forensic analysis and contract research biology lab in California with a partner. He remembered that giant-sized wheat.

"I had an idea to market the grain as a snack food to Corn Nuts," Quinn said. "My dad finally found a pint jar of the grain in someone’s basement."

Corn Nuts lost interest in the grain once they realized Quinn’s half-acre garden was the only source.

Quinn persisted and eventually the health-food industry showed interest. The grain is bigger than traditional wheat and has more protein and nutrients. It is also well tolerated by most people with wheat allergies.

Quinn trademarked Kamut http://kamut.com , an Egyptian word for wheat, to market the grain and products made from it.

"Kamut is not the name of the grain; it’s used to sell a specific grain with certain characteristics and it’s guaranteed organic," Quinn said.

The grain is named khorasan, a relative of durum wheat grain.

While Kamut was first used in pasta, its biggest break came in 1991 when Texas-based Arrowhead Mills started making a breakfast cereal named Kamut Flakes.

"That really put us into the national scene," Quinn said.

Today 12,000 acres of the grain, with seed supplied by Quinn, is growing in Montana, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

"We’ve experimented everywhere, in northern Africa, in Europe," Quinn said. "We’re having limited success in Australia."

Kamut products are sold worldwide with Italy being one of the biggest consumers.

"The Italian market is growing at an enormous rate; they use it in everything from snacks to soups," Quinn said. "We’re breaking in to the Asian markets where we believe there’s potential for Kamut pasta and noodles."

Dedman’s tale that the "King Tut" wheat came from a stone box near an Egyptian tomb is a good one, but it is a myth.

"This is not the grain that’s been found in tombs," Quinn said. "I think a Cairo (Egypt) panhandler told the story to a young airman and extracted a few Yankee dollars in exchange."

It’s likely that the wheat came from a private farm where it was grown for private use.

Quinn recently talked about Kamut, the reasons he decided to convert his farm to organic production 20 years ago, and some of his other projects.

Q. What piqued your interest in organic farming?

A "In addition to the farm, I owned a mill, Montana Flour and Grain, in Fort Benton. We had our first request for organic products in 1984. At the time, there was almost no one in Montana doing organic farming. But I heard the success stories of farmers from Nebraska and North Dakota who had been involved in organic farming for 10 to 20 years.

By 1988, we were milling about 50 percent organic grains. Then we split the business and my partner in California took the conventional grain and I was processing about 99 percent organic."

Quinn sold the mill to an employee, Andre Giles, in 1999.

Q. You started the transition to organic about 20 years ago. How is your farm different today?

A. "We grow a large variety of crops and use green manure, and plowed under peas and lentils, to add nutrients to the soil. Our weed populations have changed. The weeds that are hardest to kill with chemicals are almost nonexistent here now. There’s not one weed that dominates and there aren’t any that are out of control.

Our shelterbelts are healthier, we don’t have trees curling up any more from chemical spray drifts. And we have a lot more lady bugs than we used."

Q. A lot of college graduates come back to the farm with new ideas. How did your parents handle your decision to transition to organic farming?

A. "They’ve been very supportive, but in the beginning they were hesitant.

Trying new things is part of my heritage. My grandfather, Emmett, was a homesteader and he had to come up with his own ideas to survive. He was one of the first to use radios in this area. I heard stories about how the radio never worked when the neighbors came over to see it.

My dad, Mack, is a college graduate. He came back from school with new ideas too."

Q. Is there a solid organic farming industry in Montana?

A. "It’s still pretty new. I think there are a lot of questions about the requirements for transition. I think people still have a hard time believing that you can control weeds and get good crops without chemicals. There’s still not a general acceptance that that is possible."

Q. You are involved in Wind Park Solutions, which is planning a commercial wind park in Judith Gap. How is that going?

A. It’s been extremely laborious, it’s like life. We expected the project to take six months, not the four years that it has been. It’s taking much longer than anyone expected.

Now we are in the final stages of implementation. All the environmental questions are answered. We have most of the leases finalized. All the permit studies are done.

One of the key points left to go is signing a purchase agreement with NorthWestern Energy. We are also waiting for Congress to pass a production tax credit. And of course, any contract we have with NorthWestern will need to be approved by the Montana Public Service Commission and the bankruptcy court."

NorthWestern Energy filed for bankruptcy projection in September. The company is seeking approval from creditors and a federal bankruptcy judge for a proposed financial reorganization plan.

"The whole park is designed for 180 megawatts of production. It will be built in phases, but eventually will have at least 100 towers."

Q. You are leasing your farm now to another organic farmer. What is your next project?

A. "Oh my. Kamut is an ongoing project that I’ll be involved in the rest of my life. When you try to introduce something new to the world, it takes a lot of time and energy.

I have several other small projects, but they are still in the idea stage, so it would be premature to talk about details."