Promoting the Future of Farming through Humble Exchanges with Russ Conser from Grassfed Exchange
Listen as Russ shares how he got involved with the Grassfed Exchange and how regenerative producers and sustainable food supporters from all over the world gather at their Conference to network and exchange ideas on regenerative Farm practices.
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Allyssa: 0:51
Welcome to the Direct Farm Podcast. We've got a terrific conversation for you today with the Grassfed Exchange. I am delighted to welcome Russ Conser, the president for the grassfed exchange. Welcome Russ!
Russ: 1:04
Hi Allyssa thanks for having me on!
Allyssa: 1:06
Thank you so much for being here. So I guess to get things started, tell us a little bit more about the history of the Grassfed Exchange.
Russ: 1:14
Yeah, the Grassfed Exchange started as a group of Farmers and producers in what was then this unusual french sector of grassfed meat production, who decided they need to get together to talk about everything from grazing practices to genetics, to marketing. And they literally came together in a barn in Nebraska. That conference grew, it's now 12 years old. Community of people in physical attendance at an annual conference about 500 people for the next event that we'll be doing in Dallas. We've got a larger facility that will let us get to 700. But we routinely engaged with about 4,000 American farmers, producers, marketers, people in the grassfed industry. I said, Dallas, I shouldn't say Fort worth. Don't take offense. Dallas, the Will Rogers center in Fort Worth. It's just wonderful. It's almost like, you know, coming home to Cowtown here in Texas, I'm just outside of Houston, right? With you know, which is legendary, Fort Worth is legendary in the cattle industry. Where cattle and all kinds of livestock are a part of a system that can help do good things for the world. So we're excited about looking forward to that, even though it's a year away, it was supposed to be a year ago. Of course, COVID kicked that down the road. But yeah, and it's all about, I mean, our role in life is that we stayed our mission is to humbly exchange the knowledge of the gifts we are given to reawaken the health of the people in the land. We're primarily a how-to organization. So, it's a big theoretical exercise and people in why they ought to get go grass fed or why they ought to get into regenerative. It's all about how, and it's all about Farmer-to-Farmer education and, other people in the supply chain, marketers, distributors, processors et cetera. So, yeah, it's Farmer started, Farmer grown, and other players that, that come together in that industry to compare notes and figure out how to do better.
Allyssa: 3:04
That's great. Tell us a little bit more about the mission. You mentioned no giving back to the land, the animals, it starts with producers. It starts with the farmers. So tell us about that mission and the vision behind the Grassfed Exchange, as well as I believe you're also the CEO of Blue Nest Beef. So on a personal level, what does this organization mean to you?
Russ: 3:26
Oh, wow. It's honestly, where a key part of where my journey started anyway. So maybe I'll go there second, because it may be a little bit of a, a rabbit hole, but the first part of that mission statement, right. To humbly exchange knowledge it really contains the idea that I have knowledge. I have skills, but there's things I don't know. So I'm humble. So I want to learn from somebody else. And so one of the things that's absolutely true about the grasp exchange and our mission here is a willingness and a receptiveness to share what you think, you know, but be willing to learn from somebody else all the time. I'm really giving and sharing environment. We've really expanded that quite a bit to be able to incorporate people of all ages. So it's really fun to watch young people engage with people have been doing it for a while and learned something like profound and likewise, the other way around people that have been seasoned farmers in this space learning from great questions and insights that young innovative farmers and producers are doing. The second part of that mission statement, which is to wake in the health of both land and people is a recognition, right? Intimately connected. I guess I'll avoid the really big rabbit hole here, but I, I think there's one way to characterize what's gone wrong in the last 500 years, if not 10,000 years, is that we unwittingly adopted an assumption that separated us as humans from the natural systems that we're a part of. There's this big divide. And I think one of the things that all regenerative producers come to recognize is that the health of land and people are intrinsically connected. They're literally grounded in soil. And so, you know, you know, the whole industry right. Has moved from this appreciation. I think if you In the proto-kind of grassfed industry, 10 or 20 years ago, you would have found that. The conversation started among people like, okay, I'm not a, not a cattle farmer, I'm a grass farmer. But I think today you'll find that most people realize they're actually soil builders. And that the cattle and the grass and all the other parts of an ecosystem are part of making that happen. And then in recognition of that, the product from that has to flow through a viable supply chain of processors and marketers and distributors to get that healthy product all the way to the consumer's plate in a way that the consumer values, it appreciates it, can get it when they want it right. Huge problem and opportunity. And so really what we try to be as the Grassfed Exchange is a place where everybody can get together, you know, see old friends like you can at any conference, meet many ones. But then learn from each other on, on how to kind of make that whole system work. We really do think that the only future for farming in America or anywhere in the world is regenerative in the long run. And the only way we're going to get there is by comparing notes, Farmer to Farmer, actor, to actor, in that system to get there. Now in terms of my own role or my own kind of history, I had nothing to do with agriculture eight years ago. And I happened to be there when Allan Savory gave his famous talk at Ted that really catalyzed a lot of people and found it very intriguing. But it wasn't until some further serendipity fell into place a few weeks later that caused me to really look into this question you know, I'm an engineer and a scientist by background. And so for me, I was already on the kind of the grass fed train for health benefits early on, but what really intrigued me about this space were the potential solutions for climate change and environmental problems and serendipity led me to meet my now wonderful friend, Peter Byck, many people know him as a movie producer, this whole Carbon Cowboys videos that people see. And so I got on the phone because somebody encouraged me to meet this crazy Peter Byck guy. And Peter just kept twisting my arm "Russ! You need to come to the Grassfed Exchange. Russ! You need to come to the Grassfed Exchange." He wouldn't let up. And that was in 2013 when the grass fed exchange was being held in Bismarck, North Dakota. And so I flew all the way from Houston to Bismark, North Dakota. I've never been up there before and just thought this was the most amazing thing ever. That these farmers, not only could I see with my own eyes, you know, the magic that would happen in ecosystems when farmers produce differently. But what I saw was just this incredible open, welcoming spirit in the community to farmers where they were, you know, learning and sharing with one another. As an engineer by background, you know, pragmatism is what wins. You know, I care about things that work I'm gonna, what I saw was farmers and ranchers. They're just making stuff work. They're working hard everyday to learn, and they're doing amazing things. And so literally I had already made the decision, oh, I'm coming back next year. And I have nothing to do with this industry, but these people are awesome. And, and I was already all signed up to attend in 2014 when it was in Missouri. And and then the the keynote speaker, Fred Provenza uh, uh, became ill and they called and said, "Hey Russ, you want to give a keynote?" Talk about, so what carbon? And, and so suddenly I was a speaker at an event I was just planning to go to, to attend. And that just, you know, made me, you know, much more deeply connected to this community. They asked me to join up and be a part of their community. And I guess the rest is history. So, even things like this, Blue Nest Beef, I mean, it's kind of, what can I do for it? I continue to be very involved in the science, but the commercial side of me is what can I do to help get the industry moving in the direction by bridging the gap with consumers, so.
Allyssa: 8:39
Yeah, that's, that's great to hear that it started as, you know, a passion project of something you were curious about and interested in, because I think, you know, when you're confronted a problem, sometimes it starts with, I'm curious about this. How can we fix this? How can we solve this? And then having that community build around that common problem and working together and figuring out a way to, you know, adapt and to evolve. So how would you say that the organization, the grass fed exchange has evolved over the years? Started as a conference, but now looking ahead in 2021, almost midway through the year, how has the organization evolved going into the future?
Russ: 9:14
Well, one of the first things I'd say important that's proudly already in our most recent history, is we've greatly expanded the diversity in age. And location and participation of everything you could think of in the demographics. So, really when the Grassfed Exchange started, it was dominated by seasoned Farmers that were just trying to make ends meet, make something work and only through the gracious support of other partners. Did we start really going out and targeting, bringing young people into this solution? And it fundamentally transformed the organization and to a place where now we've got you know, it's, it's fun when you have little kids running around under your feet at a conference, you know, when people hold their babies cause they're welcome. It it's multi-generational and that's, you know, incredibly exciting. It was also important for the Grassfed Exchange, in our recent past that first trip to Bismark, North Dakota coming up on eight years ago now was like a big step for Grassfed Exchange. You know, should we just be like a little local event that people come to or should we try to get out and move around? And it was such a success that the Grassfed Exchange has now been around every corner of the country or not every corner, but many corners of the country. Georgia, New York, last year, we were in California, came back to South Dakota. We're in Texas this year. I'm really proud that we're going to be in Texas. The following year, we're planning to go to Canada. So to be truly international, a small step international. It was we're planning to be in Calgary. And where we go, I think is kind of a we're beginning, the phases now of virtualization of this community is a great tribe block network of folks that have come to know each other, and it has this welcoming sharing attitude, like many people significantly setback by COVID and the difficulties in getting together face to face. So recently we've started monthly virtual events here where we call them the hallway conversations. You know, it's kind of like the B tracks, I guess, of a recording studio type stuff. But when we, when we talked about it as a board, we recognize that the thing we missed about the conference wasn't the PowerPoints. It was the opportunity to compare notes with other like-minded and curious people in the hallways between those big talks. And so we decided to focus our energy until we can get together again on a, taking one topic a month. Getting a couple of interesting people to just start a conversation and then inviting a larger community to be a part of it. So, you know, as a Grassfed Exchange, we're always looking to try to have conversations, again it's exchange of knowledge and not trying to preach or pass along something that's in a textbook, we're exploring the space together. So we're very happy to wrestle with difficult issues for which there are no immediate answers, but you got knowledgeable people sharing what they know. So we've done panels so far on things like processing, on family transitions, on diversity. This month we'll be running one on carbon markets. That's kind of a big thing now that a lot of people are talking about is this something that's interesting to ranchers and how it works? So, that's been a big hit and we, we hope to do more of that, where that takes us as a Grassfed Exchange. Not completely clear yet, but if we can be a network of people that can be there to humbly exchange knowledge, to help awaken the health of land and people, wherever people are, whenever people are you know, we're gonna we're not wedded to the conference itself as a form we need to be, and we love it. It's always great to get together with friends. And I'm sure like every event it's going to be more special than ever when we get to get back together again. Right. The important part is you know, we were all living still amongst broken land. I mean, the world got to see the broken meat and livestock industry last year, right. When COVID hit early. Right. And all the big meat packing and processing plants started falling apart. People started looking around, where am I going to get my family's food? And and I think, you know, it's, it's not like the world's going to change overnight, but I think it opened some eyes. And it's kind of helping move the ball in the right direction. So exciting times. And you know, we are humbly proud if that kind of paradox can exist together, that we can be a part of it.
Allyssa: 13:22
I think it's, it's so important and I love how you, how you touch on the common thread throughout your organization. Throughout the years of exchanging information, being able to learn, to being able to teach, and to learn from each other. So what would you say are some of the most beneficial aspects of being a part of this community? You touched on the education component to it, but understand that you also support the agenda of ranchers and you also support or have people involved from the grassfed industry who are just supporters too. So what are some of those beneficial aspects from the farmer side or the rancher side?
Russ: 13:58
Well, I think the big beneficial aspect of the farmers, whether it's, you know, at the event or between the events or in virtual events or whatever the case may be, is the opportunity to plug into this network of knowledge exchange. That is truly humble. I mean, what I've seen is lives transformed and not because somebody watched Gabe Brown on a YouTube video because they met Gabe Brown and when they had a question, they called him up and Gabe answered the question. I hope Gabe his phone to start ringing off the hook. But, you know, that Gabe Brown quality of people, whether they're young or old, or they've ever been on a video or anything before they're all over the country. I mean, we have amazing regenerative producers, families, young and old that are out there figuring out how to make you know, grow grass that grows healthy soil and grow healthy meat everywhere in the country. And the opportunity to pick up the phone or text message or email someone you met or talked to or saw what's really awesome about this community is it's just so giving. People are routinely reaching out to each other and getting plugged into people who are willing to help. And you know, I'm just a cog in the wheel combinator to, you know, all the hard work that the many pioneers who built this organization have created. I'm sure that many will come afterwards, but that the power isn't in us as a board or officers at all, it's, it's all in that kind of farmer to farmer interaction all the time. The power of the organization is that ethos and culture that community is willing to share.
Allyssa: 15:26
And I think between those hallway conversations, as well as the conference itself, you're giving people that opportunity to interact and to engage and learn from one another as well. So for looking at the conference through that lens, I know you hold that conference annually every year. What would you say is maybe a point for those looking to attend? What could they expect from attending the conference?
Russ: 15:49
The important thing to understand is that it's a, how-to conference. That's how I like to describe it. So, yes, you can come and get inspired, but hopefully you're inspired because you find people that are actually getting stuff done and, you know, you can learn about how to get whatever it is done, you need to get done, done. That sounded kind of weird, but because it's a, how to conference, it's broken up into three primary parts. It's a three-day event. The first day is all field tours. In Texas this year, we have five field tours, or next year we have five field tours set up to basically had to several different points of the compass that were visit multiple farms that are either pioneers or working hard on different dimensions, whether it's amazing grazing at Birdwell Clark. You haven't seen anything until you've seen a herd of 5,000 cattle pick up and move four times a day all at once. It's like, it's like watching a feedlot get up and relocate itself. Right. It's like the super tanker of rotational grazing. Or you can go well up to the noble research ranch and learn about some of the interesting science that they're doing with grazing and cattle, or genetics it's just, it's picking apart different types of things, you know? Jon and Wendy Taggart at Burgundy Beef, some of the early pioneers in grass fed beef right here in Texas, just south of Fort worth. They've been running the kind of the full farm system for a while, finishing your own cattle, processing, they have their own butcher shops and online retail. So people want to learn about that marketing. They can come learn about that. And instead of like learning about it in a PowerPoint presentation, you're going to go spend the day with Jon and Wendy, right? It's that richness of hands-on learning that's important on that first day, the second day is more what you'd expect with features, speakers, usually in depth. Our talks are typically about an hour, but a lot of good break time. So hour long breaks with a large exhibit floor this year we'll even have some interesting things going on, like a demonstration of a butchery, so people can come in and see how. You know how you might be able to market some different cuts of meats, the animals and learn what it takes to do that. So it's going to be fun for the upcoming one, instead of doing what we usually do, which is kind of a big name evening, kind of interesting provocative talk or, or holding a good Texas barbecue and a folk dance. So, what we call the regeneration celebration, so you can expect a come and have fun. And then on that last day. Day three, it's all about smaller group, topical breakout sessions mostly a little bit of presentation, but a lot of conversation in those things. So, take a topic invite two or three people to give some introductory comments and then start a dialogue in that group. So whether that's challenges in grazing management in different environments or how to market your beef or how to deal with land and family transitions over generations. These kinds of topics are things that, you know, we can get those deeper practical dives in. So that kind of three part event in field tours that are with people who are doing real stuff, big inspirational talks with great breakout session or great breaks to talk and meet people and learn things and in good breakout sessions on the third day to go in depth in areas that you're particularly interested in. I think we're all humbly learning at this point in this space, very excited about what we see and, you know, personally, the farm tours are, to me, always fun. There's just nothing like seeing. Farms in completely different parts of the country applying the same principles, but in very, very different ways and, you know, getting exciting results and you know, learning learning things, you know, part of that knowledge exchange, isn't just like knowledge that works. It's like I did this and it didn't work. I lost my butt. And here's how we survived it or whatever. It is not at all uncommon at the Grassfed Exchange to hear someone tell you their story of what went wrong. And again, that's a part of that humble exchange.
Allyssa: 19:53
Yeah, I love how you present the information to in different ways. So you have those breakout groups. You go on the farm tour, you also have those keynotes and presentations because people absorb information in different ways and being able to have that hands-on experience to go, do you know what they're going to do on their farm as well? And then with that theme, tell us a little bit more about the theme for your event, which is rooted in wisdom. What was the decision to have this conference rooted in wisdom?
Russ: 20:22
You've been paying attention cause we just came up with that a couple of weeks ago. And we're very excited about it. I mean, we felt our, our previously planned event for Fort worth was called shared stewardship. That felt really good at the time. And COVID kind of changed everything. And we had a really good conversation, a board of, you know, what's the meaningful conversation we need to have now. Wisdom is one of those really powerful words, right? That allows us to connect to knowledge in whatever form it may be. It may be the wisdom of the land itself, but it may be the wisdom of different peoples. You know, I'm particularly fascinated here in Texas with the wisdom of indigenous peoples that came before us. And so I think you can expect to hear that kind of stuff, but it could be, you know, your own grandma's wisdom or some other cultural wisdom. We think that, that you know, I like my friend, Fred Provenza uh, happens to be the guy that I stood in for there the Grassfed Exchange in 20 14, likes to call rediscovering our nutritional wisdom, I think is the subtitle of his book nourishment. I don't know if you've read that, great book. And, and he uses this phrase, wisdom of the body, right. Which is a key path to health is learning that your body is trying to be healthy. And how do you help it get there? Well, it's true in the pasture as well. It's true in the land. Right. And, and so of course, roots is a great word for anything to do with agriculture, especially if you, if you're in the pasture business. So yeah, we're pretty excited about Rooted In Wisdom. We're literally just starting to shape our agenda now for the for the big talks and breakouts. And we'll, we'll probably be announcing that in a couple of months.
Allyssa: 21:59
That's exciting. In one year's time, right? May 18th, I believe
Russ: 22:02
May 18th of 2022. So yeah, just a little over a year from now, and that should really be one of the things we try to do with our conferences, time it to really get the most out of those tours. And mid may in north central, Texas, You know, the grass is really rocking. You know, it's getting warm, but it's not hot. And you know, these tours that we have will allow people to explore and see you know, some really interesting things in the field, you know, you can do an indoor conference anytime a year. But it's those tours that really kind of, you know, wed up with the calendar of the sunshine. So far we've been blessed with those tours, but one of the things that is fun with farmers is they're not afraid of rain either, and they're not afraid to get mud on their boots. If that's what it is. We had some pretty massive rainstorms in South Dakota a couple of years ago. And we had a call, a couple of audibles on tours, but we did them and we had a blast doing them. It'll be seared in my memory for a lifetime. The day we visited the 777 Bison Ranch in South Dakota on a rainy day and watching the herd of bison go up the Hills and down the other side. And in this case, it literally was the ranch that Dances with Wolves was filmed at. So, I mean, just amazing to see ecosystems function in ways that I think we take for granted. Back at the first time I always take my wife with me and we went to the Grassfed Exchange in Missouri and it, first moment we set foot on the pasture, and she grew up on a farm here in Texas. It's like, oh my gosh, it's different. Right. You know, it's full of insects and butterflies and look at all the bees and the birds are singing. You know, it's a completely different world than industrialized farmland, which is, you know, pretty much dominates the landscape everywhere. So anyhow, it's an inspiring community to be a part of it's a humbling community to be a part of. And it's a privilege to be a part of it.
Allyssa: 23:50
That's terrific. And understand that you also have, or at least last year you implement the Herd Fellows Scholarship
Russ: 23:57
Yup that's what I was referring to earlier. When I brought young people in, a group of philanthropists that called themselves, the Herd said, "we really think the big issue is transferring knowledge to the next generation of farmers." This would've been 2015, 16, somewhere in there. And we said, well, why don't we work together? Because we got a bunch of old farmers here, let's work together to bring some young farmers in, to meet the old farmers and you know, they'll probably both enjoy it. And it's such a huge hit. That I think I still remember the day in 2016 in Georgia, when we had the first class of Herd fellows, these are people whose you know, opportunity to attend this conference has been funded by donors. And it was really kind of on a whim. I think we, we had something like 30 Herd Fellows in the room at lunch and said, ah, come on, stand up. We're going to have you all introduce yourselves. And I, it was almost palpable. I could see tears in the eyes of our farmers because for the first time they saw hope in the future of farming, they could see that, that painful story of agriculture is family after family, that's watched the next generation grow up, move to town. And, you know, not become interested in keeping the traditions of farming alive and going. And what we're seeing, I think all across America now is an interest and an appetite and a new generation, some have their roots in farming. Some don't. I'm, I'm always blown away by the story of the city girl or the city kid that, you know, had nothing to do with farming, but jumped into it. One of our board members, Sarah Gleason now as a bison rancher in Colorado, and she was a marketer working in Washington DC and it's just crazy. When you see people find their passion, find their past and importantly you know, Grassfed Exchange isn't alone. We're really proud of what we do here, but. You know, we're an opportunity where people can plug into other people to learn from if this is what you feel called to do, what you want to do, what you're passionate about. You can come to the Grassfed Exchange. And feel welcome, and you wanna get your boots dirty, and learn. And then you're very likely to meet someone that can help you and possibly become your best friend. Everybody is in this space is just so willing to give. And for us, our role is just to get them connected and stand back. So, yeah,
Allyssa: 26:18
Yeah, that's great to hear that, you know, passing it on to the next generation is, you know, top of mind, because like you said, you know, farmers as they retire out or, you know, if they're, you know, Have a family farm that maybe they're trying to figure out, you know, if their, their kids are interested in taking over the family farm, being able to educate and give resources around that as well, So how can listeners support the grassfedexchange? What did that be through the Herd fellow program or possibly another
Russ: 26:45
Well, people can absolutely. If people are interested in donating the herd fellowship program, they can certainly drop an email to us info@GrassfedExchange.com. And we'd be happy to chat with you. Participate in one of our virtual hallway conversations, which we do by zoom and Facebook lives. So we tried to make that really easy. You don't have to register or anything. If you just go to the Grassfedd exchange Facebook page on when the event goes live, we can participate in that conversation and start, you know, put it on your calendar now, be in Fort Worth on May 18th through the 20th of 2022. And I'm prepared to meet some interesting people and compare notes and learn. It's really Farmer to Farmer and other kind of people that are playing in the sector, but there, there are people that come just be a part of this amazing community. I know that's exactly how I came into it.
Allyssa: 27:30
That's exciting. And thinking from, you know, all the community that you have, you're able to support them through the conference, through those hallway conversations, through the farm tours. What about throughout the remainder of the year? You mentioned how there's mentorship opportunities, how organically they just happen.
Russ: 27:46
We're an all volunteer organization, so we don't have a lot of resources ourselves. We try to keep the event itself very, very affordable to the farmers. That's just really fundamental to me. Maybe, you know, this, this is, this is not an event where you should feel like you have to be wealthy to participate. Right. And so we're appreciative of sponsors like you at Barn2Door that help through your sponsorship to support this thing. So we welcome sponsors to help defray those costs, to keep them down for farmers. I would like to think that someday we can grow big enough and have enough sponsors and activity that, you know, we could become a standing organization that we could actually have some paid staff to kind of keep the machine going, and then we can start building knowledge, infrastructure, and things like that. That can be more effective over time. Right now. It's that organic sharing, mostly between people that makes the machine work for now. You know, even with that organic stuff, you know, we've talked several times about doing various other types of virtual. The forms even tried a few things, but there's just nothing like texting back and forth with friends who are wrestling with similar problems to learn, right? So that very one-to-one relationship it's this web of network that farms is to me the real power. Some of these big things that you'll hear at a regenerative event like the Grassfed Exchange is, you know, the world is completely different where instead of waking up in the morning and trying to figure out what you need to kill today, that wants to grow like a weed, how do you help what wants to live, live? It's a completely different mentality for people. And I, I think it's fundamental to the prosperity of the health of the of our economy, the planet of people of everything. So I hope that some of that stays with us on the other side, but I will settle for an increased appreciation of consumers who know their farmer, who know where their food comes from, who knows that food can be produced in a way that does good things or bad things for the environment and that they vote with their pocketbook to be a part of a farm system. That's doing good things for the world. So, and I think there's gonna be some stickiness to it for sure. You know, I, I think people are, you know, way more comfortable today with clicking on a button on a desktop or a phone and seeing a magic box of food show up on the doorstep. That's gotta be good for a lot of the farmers at Barn2Door.
Allyssa: 29:51
And I think to your point, there's always something you can learn. You haven't ever fully arrived to understand. This is how I approach farming, because it can change and try to be innovative and getting ahead of it as well. What about the farmers who transitioned their business online as their pivots strategy what have you noticed have been some of those effective tactics that they've implemented to bring their business online, direct to market?
Russ: 30:14
Yeah, I think most of the people that were online have done well, and those that got online you know, did pretty well as well. I think everyone's learning how to make that stuff work. It can be from managing inventory to setting prices, to, you know, figuring out the processor and customer service. And it sure sounds easier to ship until you have to do it. So there's a whole new angle to this stuff. Like I think the online opportunities for farmers are a real plus and they've expanded greatly over the course of the last year. And you know, I'm sure it's not without turmoil and trouble in some places and not in others, like any other startup system, but I think that the move to online is here to stay. I think that's one of the really positive things that y'all at Barn2Door are really doing is how do we make this so, you don't have to start from scratch every time. It's just, we've got to figure out how to bring scale to the operations as well as scale to the knowledge and making this stuff work. So, but I think more and more people are figuring out how to do that and feel pretty good about it.
Allyssa: 31:13
Because I think sometimes we talk about convenience. Either just for the buyer or just for the Farmer, but really convenience for both. Is this an option that is going to save me time and money as a farmer and a producer, but also provide convenient options for my buyers because they both have to go inside for it to be, you know, like you mentioned worthwhile for that business to go that route.
Russ: 31:33
Yeah. Literally when I came back from that first Grassfed Exchange and I was like, oh man, how am I going to go find a Farmer that I can have confidence in, to buy my family's food from? Cause I just really wanted to do something other than buy that thing that was labeled, grassfed at the grocery store. And it was hard. It was really hard. And it wasn't till I met some people, honestly, through the Grassfed Exchange that I solved that problem. But you know, who's going to do that. I'm just, I'm such a weird and unusual guy. I'm like the only guy in the history that had nothing to do with the industry that flew from Houston to Bismarck to meet a bunch of Farmers because there might be something interesting about climate change and soil carbon involved. So that's an totally unscalable model. Right. You know, my own route is unscalable, but I think the opportunities that, that or, you know, companies like yours are bringing to this where you can kind of marry that, make it easier for the farmer, make it easier for the consumers at the same time is really awesome.
Allyssa: 32:27
For sure. Well, looking ahead, I know a lot of these farmers, these ranchers are in their busy season. So transitioning or pivoting a little bit. What advice are you giving to some of the Farmers and Ranchers in your community? Knowing that there are unknowns into the future with respect to potential routes to market?
Russ: 32:45
That's a part of the genius of the Grassfed Exchange we don't give advice to anybody. In fact, we'll even get requests from time to time, you know, give us your opinion, give us your advice on that, but that's not what we're here for, even on political issues. What we want to be here is to be a forum where we can exchange knowledge. So I had somebody reach out to me the other day, that was a grassfed producer here, north of Houston that knew a friend and said you know, Hey, I'm struggling with some stuff. What can I do about that? You know, here, I'm trying to learn this stuff and figure out where to go. Well, I was able to very quickly hook him up with another farmer. That's not too far from where he was that. And I think by now they've struck up a conversation and they carry it on. So the advice, the insight doesn't come from any one of us, it comes from each of us to all of us given a different setting. So, you know, all it, because I have a background in science and engineering, the kind of advice that people call me for on science and technology and soil carbon, and measuring scientific stuff and all that kind of thing. But, you know, it's this richness of the network where advice and insight can flow freely between people who are willing givers and humble receivers. That's what we're here for. And anything we can do as Grassfed Exchange to kind of explicitly set up a forum to have a conversation, like I said, the next conversation we'll be doing here on carbon markets. You know, people may want to answers. What we're going to do is have a conversation that allows him to hear some people who are wrestling with these issues, talk about it, right? And then they make up their own decisions. Well, that made sense. I liked what he, or she was saying, I should, you know, give them a call. I should learn more about that. Or I look into this and to me, that's what the Grassfed Exchange is about. There's no book on that bookshelf that has the answers or the recipe and how it go about this. But somewhere out there in our community is someone who either knows the answer or is working towards it that is willing to share. And that's what we try to focus on.
Allyssa: 34:36
I also think from a brainstorming standpoint as well, when you have more people involved in that, you know, forum where it's safe to exchange ideas and thoughts and creativity is kind of fostered in that type of environment as well.
Russ: 34:49
Completely, I think you know, creating a safe place where both crazy ideas and past failures can be shared and celebrated as fundamental to creativity. My, my background actually is in large corporation innovation. And I used to run a large international program of investing in people with just out of the box, super crazy energy technology ideas. And you know, this is such an important part. You have to create an open sharing space where people can entertain play with explore, try, fail, try again. That's how change happens. It doesn't happen because somebody read the magic solution for the future in a book. And implemented it and boom, bang, you know, it was successful. It's just not how success happens. Success is hard work. It's trying, it's failing, it's learning, it's trying something different. And then, you know, finally it comes together. So, you know, we're all on a journey in our lives. And you know, I think Grassfed Exchange is really just an embodiment of that.
Allyssa: 35:56
Well said before we sign off, is there I guess I would say on the personal side, then from your science background, you have background with innovation and businesses. Do you have any advice that you would want to share with Farmers?
Russ: 36:09
Yeah. The magic is always in what you think you know, it isn't so as they say, right, Yeah. One of the things I've absolutely learned in a breakthrough science and engineering and technology is, is that it's very often the hidden assumptions and what we think is necessarily true or practically true, or always the way we've done it, because whatever that is, there's hidden assumptions in there. And the future is contained in you know, some new idea that violates the assumption that you didn't even know was there. So that willingness to realize, and this is where humility becomes so important. Right. To realize, none of us knows as much as we might like to pretend we know, like helps keep us open to learning from others, to trying things new. And then it also, I think helps protect us from that. Like, okay, well, I tried that it didn't work, you know, one of the beautiful things about regenerative grazing is that every day is a new experiment. The sun comes up, the sun goes down and you can try something. And if it works great, do it again tomorrow. So what's incredibly inspiring about these regenerative producers around America and even all around the world now is that they're just people that have gone out there with a willingness to try. And you know, they didn't hold themselves back. They didn't use an excuse that, well, that's the way my daddy did it. That's the way it's always been done. That's the way we know for sure it works, whatever those . Excuses are, you know, we have to learn how to, you know, look through like past even intentionally. Yeah, no, in my corporate world, I used to tell my my bosses, I know this is going to happen funny for 95% of the stuff you do. There's brilliance already in the way it's done and you should keep doing it that way. But if you're looking for the 5% that, that holds the keys to doing something fundamentally new, that you could do that could be really important. Do the opposite of what you think you should do. Right. If your intuition says go right, try left. And it's only in that trying left that you will have an opportunity to learn something. Yeah. Left is a really bad idea. Maybe 9 times out of 10, left is really bad, but you know, one time out of 10, Left, open to pathway to something new, it's the whole Robert Frost, the road less traveled thing. Right. I think the successful regenerative farmers are the ones that have given themselves permission to experiment in new directions. One of the fundamental things that they do, to do that is they don't get arrogant over confident, anything about predicting what that outcome of any given decision is going to be. They become not only great experimenters, but incredible observers of whatever happens from that experiment. So if you go, if you turn left and you just keep walking left and, you know, pay attention to what's going on, you might fall off a cliff that's over the left-hand road. Right. But they're the real regenerative producers that are doing amazing things. And regenerative meat production are people that get up in the morning and they look at their grass, they watch the birds, they smell the soil. They appreciate the spider webs out there that they didn't know were missing before. It's that developing the power of observation is the necessary companion to the willingness to try you put those two things together. And who knows where you show up you know, where you can get to I would say we are so early in this new transition to regenerative agriculture, that there's going to be people experimenting, trying, learning, failing, succeeding for generations. This is not something we're gonna, solve and implement and replicate, you know, and like a snap, our magic fingers and have suddenly, you know, every acre of farm and pasture land in America produced differently. But if we get up every day and, try to humbly learn then I think, you know, by the time my grandchildren are older and younger, we will have reinvigorated our ecosystems here. So there you go. Bit philosophical, but that's how I see the world.
Allyssa: 40:22
Well, it definitely starts with mindset, you know, before you implement change, you have to just think about, you know, What are my options and thinking outside the box from there too.
Russ: 40:31
Yeah. At the end, it really is. Honestly, the hardest part for many people is giving yourself permission to think outside the box. Because anytime you give yourself the permission to try something out of the box, you have to be willing to give yourself the permission to fail. Right. If you're not willing to fail, if it doesn't go right, then, you know, you better not start because you're going to fail more often than you're going to succeed early on in any of your ventures. I mean, it's good that we have a lot of people that like the repeat and replicate you know, proven, tried and true things, but the world only changes when people, explore those other roads and find something new, interesting, valuable that helps us all. That's what we need to do.
Allyssa: 41:08
What's next for the Grassfed Exchange?
Russ: 41:09
I think figuring out how we're only about six months into this virtual conversation stuff. And figuring out how do we build structures that help that kind of stuff happen more easily and more places more of the time that may be entirely virtual. It may be you know, more regional opportunities where farmers and ranchers can get together on a more local basis. That's probably a little bit further out. Again we need more institutional structure to be able to do that. But I, I can easily see that 10 years down the road. That, you know, we could have little Grassfed Exchanges happening in all corners of the country where smaller groups of farmers get together and humbly exchange knowledge on a regular basis. And then, you know, some of them come together at a national event once a year and even more people pop in and out of virtual conversations they're happening, you know, on a more regular basis over time. So, we're very much in this mode I described with trying, observing, and learning right now. So what applies to the pasture, it applies to our own activities and we're really encouraged with these hallway conversations and where they've started. But who knows, we'll keep doing the trying and observing, like I said.
Allyssa: 42:21
Well, I'm excited to hear where you guys end up and to check in with you in a year's time. Cause I'm sure a lot will change within the year. So thank you so much Russ for joining us today.
Russ: 42:31
I hope you get to come to Fort worth too. And be present with us there. It should be a blast, so.
Allyssa: 42:36
I hope so. Yeah. And for the folks listening in, please mark your calendars for May 18th of 2022. So not 2021. May 18th through May 20th, 2022, in Fort Worth, Texas for the Grassfed Exchange conference. And I also want to extend my things to all the regenerative Ranchers and grassfed industry supporters who are part of the Grassfed Exchange community. At Barn2Door we are delighted to serve regenerative Ranchers and Farmers in all 50 states. For more information on the Grassfed Exchange, you can visit their website, GrassfedExchange.com and to learn more about Barn2Door, including access to numerous free resources and best practices for your farm. You can go to Barn2Door.com/Resources thank you so much for tuning in, and we will see you next time.
Russ: 43:26
Awesome, Allyssa. Thanks for having me.