Pure Country Pork

"Some families manage restaurants, craft jewelry or build houses. Paul and Karrie Klingeman farm. It's in their blood four generations deep, with the fifth generation ready to take over Pure Country Pork, their all-natural pork business.

'There's a satisfaction in working with the land and animals and knowing that our future generation of farmers will have the skill and knowledge of keeping our farm and environment clean so that 100 years from now, no one will be cleaning up our mess,' the senior Paul Klingeman says. 'We're deeply committed to the health and well-being of our animals and the land.'

Their 100-acre spread in Ephrata, WA near the mighty Columbia River, is awash in sunshine, fresh air and space for their hogs to meander about. They raise their charges on locally grown barley, wheat and triticale (a cross between wheat and rye)---an intentional diversion from the usual corn and soy---to be sure the feed is free of genetically engineered organisms.

Pure Country Pork is the first meat vendor in the United States to enroll in the Non-GMO Project. This means the Klingemans are instituting best practices to reduce the risk that the hogs' feed could be contaminated with genetically modified crops."

- PCC Sound Consumer, July, 2010