Bio: Kurt Unkel grew up in family of rice and cattle farmers in Kinder, Louisiana. For the first decade-plus of their marriage, Kurt and his wife, Karen, a nurse by profession, farmed on auto-pilot. But about ten years ago, with all three of their kids in school, they found time to assess their work lives, which induced an awakening.  Seeing no way to make a viable long-term living in conventional farming, they began to transition to more sustainable farming methods, and also to direct-marketing their product. Even though Cajun Grain is only about 10 years old, it represents a shift in their 30-year rice farming history. 

Knowing how much food and nutrition influence health, growing healthier foods was their goal.  It presented a new learning curve that they were excited to explore and over the last few years they have absorbed a lot of knowledge from many experts in the field of "creating" nutritious food.   As a grower of food, they have learned that the prime factor in quality food is the soil.  If the soil is nurtured, it creates a hierarchy of life, from microorganisms up through earthworms and such.  They all have a role in supplying the plant with the tools to produce food.  They hope to capture the dynamics of the growing process to create food that sparks the innate energy in the body!  Besides the rice, Cajun Grain have grass-fed cattle, free-range pigs, and a vegetable plot.