Demand leads to new Big Sandy kamut facility

While demand for Kracklin' Kamut grows and 100,000 acres of kamut grain now are contracted in the U.S. and Canada, a new production facility officially opened Friday in Big Sandy.

The facility, named Big Sandy Organics, will employ two full-time workers and between six and eight part-time workers.

Operations Manager Randy Edwards said between 1,200 and 1,300 1.4-ounce packets of the roasted Kracklin' Kamut will be produced each day.

Among the dignitaries, as founder Bob Quinn called them Friday, at the opening were Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney, Sen. Jon Tester and Shane Etzwiler from the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce.

Etzwiler said, as a result of the Montanan "adventurous spirit," Montanans lead the country in entrepreneurship, business startups. People in Big Sky country are innovators and look to create ways to make life easier, he said, adding that Quinns' kamut is a great example.

Cooney said Quinn has made a great product and the opening of Big Sandy Organics is a reflection of a statewide trend.

"We got more people working - employed today - than have ever been in the history of the state of Montana. Just since January, 2,400 new people have gone to work in Montana," Cooney said. "Some good things are happening, and when you see this happening in a small community like this, that's such a healthy sign, and we're just delighted to be here and supporting it."

Tester called entrepreneurs a "hard lot," because they have to be fearless. While Quinn is having success, he's had a lot of failures, too, Tester added.

Quinn told the crowd the new facility is the culmination of 40 years of hard work and creating a market. The operation started with a half acre and 50 pounds of kamut with virtually no demand for it.

Tester said he recalls conversations he had with Quinn when the idea of Kracklin' Kamut was just sprouting.

"I remember back in the day when we were on the school board together and Bob said, 'I got this grain, we're going to start raising it, ancient grain.' There was no market for it. He went out and developed a market for it, and now it's a booming business," Tester said.

To many, including Tester, Quinn is a visionary.

The grain, as well as being made into Kracklin' Kamut, is used in other products like General Mills' Cheerios Ancient Grains cereal and can be purchased locally as a whole grain.

In addition to the new packaging label, the Kracklin' Kamut founder introduced other future plans.

One of Quinn's new ideas is instead of throwing out the leftover water in which the kamut is boiled, why not make a high-protein sports drink? A large cooler with the proposed drink sat on a table near the building. Natural watermelon flavoring had been added to make the drink tastier.

Other additions on the horizon will include a new Kracklin' Kamut flavor. Guests were asked to sample all seven of the candidate flavors Quinn had brought and vote on their favorite. The options were cinnamon and sugar, barbecue hickory, sweet ground cocoas, dill, wicked spice, ranch and chile lime. The new flavor may hit markets as soon as November, Edwards said, adding only one of the seven will likely be developed.

Despite the increasing success of Quinn's kamut - Edwards said demand continues growing at a steep rate - Quinn said he has no intention of slowing down.

Tester, who also farms near Big Sandy, is familiar with some of Quinn's other experiments.

"He's blocked off 160 acres and trying to raise fruits and vegetables and grains and go back to the way it was in the homestead ways and see if a person can make a living off 160 acres, which I think is pretty phenomenal. He's had some great successes with vegetables and fruits, quite frankly, you'd never think you can raise at this latitude," Tester said. "He's had his share of failures, too. But that never slows him down. He's done a lot of things with crops that you traditionally don't raise here - apple trees and peach trees and all sorts of stuff. He keeps looking for opportunities to diversify agriculture and give people opportunities so you don't have to have a huge landmass."

One of Quinn's most ambitious goals is to lead the way in diversifying what Montanans grow. It would be good for growers and consumers alike, he has said.

In his orchard, Quinn grows 23 varieties of apples, as well as several types of berries including saskatoons, nanking, elderberry and goose berry. He's working on an orange juice substitute made of apple and sour cherries grown on his land.

The closest place that grows oranges is California, he said.

"Why are we drinking that stuff when we can be drinking something just as good, if not better, grown right here in Montana?" he asked

Quinn has grown grapes and pear trees, raspberries and, one season, even had a peach tree bloom. The forecast for peaches doesn't look too good though, he has said.

Some of his newer experiments are dryland honey dews and water melons he ordered from Israel. He has also been growing six kinds of potatoes, several varieties of squash, as well as gaar beans for industrial oil production.

The goal Quinn said he believes in is good, natural food that doesn't need to travel.

"I wonder if we can have things that are closer to the people that eat them because they're more ripe coming to the store. We do that now with cantaloupes down here, out of Big Sandy," he said during in a July 14 interview. "People wait all year long for those, they're enormously expensive, but they're so delicious people think they're a bargain. It's a bargain because they can't find anything like that from California."