Shad Qudsi has over 12 years of conventional and organic farming experience. He is certified in Permaculture and currently owns and runs a 2.5 acre highly diversified, beyond-organic farm, Atitlan Organics, in Tzununa, Lake Atitlan.

The farm is driven mainly by Shad's devotion to the collection, adaptation, and disbursement of useful indigenous and exotic plant and animal species. The farm's centerpiece is a large, diverse plant nursery that boasts over 60 useful plant species. Atitlan Organics also sells gourmet organics vegetables and fruit, rare breed poultry, rabbits, ducks, and pigs.

Prior to living in Guatemala, Shad graduated from Johns Hopkins University with degrees in Applied Mathematics and Psychology, and worked in agricultural technology consulting before realizing he wanted to get his hands dirty and start farming full-time. Shad is also a keen fermenter, preserver and home-brewer. Shad also dabbles in the homeopathic preparations and out-of-this-world fermentations for fertility management.