Farming, Financing, Exporting: Catching Up with Nu Life Market’s Kelsey Baker

Kansas has seen many of its farm kids leave for big cities and never look back. Some passionate and dedicated farm kids, however, head back home and use their experiences to plug their rural communities into the global marketplace. Kelsey Baker is one such individual. Kelsey grew up on a farm in Scott City in western Kansas. She graduated from Kansas State University with a Bachelor of Science in AgriBusiness in just three years before moving back home. In the decade since, she has gotten married, started a family and re-engaged with her farm and ranch roots. Her family’s operation spans Scott, Wichita and Logan counties.

In addition to her roles on the farm and in her family, Kelsey is an integral staff member at Scott City’s innovative Nu Life Market. In fact, she was one of the company’s very first hires in 2010. She got her start when she bumped into Barbara Roemer at a financial seminar. Barbara told Kelsey about an exciting new business in food sorghum she and her husband Earl were about to start called Nu Life Market, focused on milling and processing food-grade sorghum. Sorghum is a versatile, non-GMO, and naturally gluten-free grain prolific across Kansas, especially in Scott County. Kelsey was intrigued by the concept and joined the team to assist with grant and loan proposals as well as financial projections, advanced skill sets that are well within her expertise.

Today, Kelsey serves as the chief financial officer and oversees export logistics for her overseas customers. Simply put, she makes the rubber hit the road when bulk sorghum products need to be shipped all over the world.

At Nu Life Market, all the products are produced under the highest level of food safety along with certifications that include gluten-free, Kosher, non-GMO and organic products accredited by the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) agency. Meeting these high standards assures their buyers that Nu Life’s products set the highest bar for quality as more and more consumers turn to them for healthy, sustainable foods.

As sorghum harvest winds down across the state each fall, Nu Life begins the process anew of gathering samples of sorghum grain and evaluating the grain quality, moisture, test weight and color. Sorghum grown in Kansas is milled into flour and sent directly to consumers as well as loaded into massive containers and shipped around the world, connecting our rural communities to the global marketplace. Sorghum grown by local Kansas farmers has been shipped to customers in faraway places like Haiti, Japan, Italy and Taiwan.

Kelsey loves her job and sharing Kansas sorghum with the rest of the world.

“Kansas agriculture is critical to providing food products around the world and Kansas is the leader in grain sorghum production in the nation,” she said. “Our Kansas farmers are raising more food using fewer resources to supply more consumers with healthy, consistent food products.”

Back home, Kelsey serves as a leader and role model in her community and to her family.

If you would like more information about Nu Life Market, check them out here.

An original version of this story by Adam York first ran in this fall’s National Sorghum Producer’s Sorghum Grower magazine and was provided courtesy of Kansas Grain Sorghum. It has been edited for our audience.