#91 - Tim Cornie @ 1000 Springs Mill

Episode Recap:

ReGen Brands Recap #91 - Why Ag-Tech & Market Demand Are Key To A Regenerative Organic Future - (RECAP LINK)

Episode Transcript:

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated with AI and is not 100% accurate.

Kyle Krull - 00:00:13
Welcome to the ReGen Brands Podcast. This is a place for brands, retailers, investors, and other food system stakeholders to learn about the consumer brand supporting regenerative agriculture and how they're changing the world. This is your host, Kyle, joined by my cohost AC, who's gonna take us into the

Anthony Corsaro - 00:00:33
episode. On this episode, we have Tim Cornie, who is a farmer and the co owner of 1,000 Springs Mill. Tim is supporting regenerative agriculture as a farmer, managing more than 800 acres of regenerative organic land in Idaho by owning and operating a processing facility, sourcing from many farmers in his region, and by selling CBG products in the 1 1000 Springs Mill brand that contain regenerative organic ingredients. In this episode, Tim shares how his regenerative efforts are inspired by the health care challenges that his family and community have faced, how a trip to Europe inspired him to stop feeding cows and start feeding humans, plus what it's like to farm, process, and brand regenerative organic foods. Tim is super optimistic that new ag tech solutions are going to help more farmers adopt regenerative practices. He sees great growth opportunities in making regenerative products more convenient, and he's a firm believer that it all comes down to creating market demand. Let's dive in. What's up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the ReGen Brands Podcast.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:01:34
Super excited to kick the year off with back to back episodes with farmer, processor, brand builder, kinda dynamos here. So we have Tim Cornie from 1000 Springs Mill joining us. So welcome, Tim.

Tim Cornie - 00:01:50
Thank you, guys. Nice to be here.

Kyle Krull - 00:01:53
Super pumped, man. I think, we met at Expo West last year, and we talked about, like, trying to get you on the pod. So I'm just happy that it's happened before Expo West 2025. Yeah. So that's good news. But like AC said, you know, this is typically where I ask a pretty, like, queued up question. You know, well, what does your brand make? But you're not just a brand, you're a farmer.

Kyle Krull - 00:02:08
So quickly help us understand where do you farm, what do you farm, and what does your brand sell today, and where can people find your products?

Tim Cornie - 00:02:18
Well, so I I'm I'm in Buhl, Idaho by Twin Falls, between Twin Falls and Boise is kinda where we're at. Reason we went with Thousand Springs Mill is we have a lot of waterfalls, then springs coming out of the rocks in the canyon that feed Nice. This water that feeds our farms. And so that's why we're along the scenic Thousand Springs Scenic Byway. So that's why we named our company Thousand Springs because there's a 1000 springs that feed us. And so, you know, we're growing, ancient grains, and we have Tibetan purple barley and and hopi blue corn and then popcorn, beans of different varieties. And then, we have a gluten free certified flour mill, and we have a European style flour mill.

Tim Cornie - 00:02:57
So the nature of the business is to be able to, farm it 8 miles away, clean it, you know, bring it into the Pillsbury plant. It's 250,000 square foot, facility. And then we have rail and, 6 unloading docks. So we're able to grow the food with our neighbors, that are organic and then my farm and then be able to, bring it in, clean it, polish it. And so, like, when you look at some of these other bigger brands, you know, they they're buying that product from all over the country and world and Mhmm. Handled 5 or 6 times. Well, we only handle it once.

Tim Cornie - 00:03:35
When it comes from the field 8 miles in and it's, you know, dealt with and then out the door. So, anyway, we're currently trying to work with co packers to be able to co pack because because of sliding fees and the expense of some of these big retailers. You know, we're wanting to, push our business, not only with our brand, which is mainly ecommerce and some of the smaller stores, but, we're pushing on co packing, for the big brands to be able to put our high quality product in their package.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:04:08
Yeah. Love it. A lot going on, man. I I love it. We're excited to dive into all of it. Tim, maybe just take the audience back and maybe take us into the, chronology of all this. I think if my memory serves me correct, farming first, then some of the branding wholesaling ingredient stuff, and then the processing plant acquisition, but give us give us the lowdown.

Tim Cornie - 00:04:29
Well, I'll tell you how it all began. If you wanna go right to the very beginning. Yeah. So that's been a I've always been a farmer, you know, and that's I mean, I came out of the womb being a farmer.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:04:37
That's what

Tim Cornie - 00:04:38
I'm gonna be. That's who I am. So I I I end up having my daughter in a horse clinic, and there was a guy that was germ he was German, and he was stranded there. And, I became friends with him. And I had an extra house, and I had an extra pickup. And I threw him the key, said, here, just stay at this house. Take this truck, go see what you wanna see. And he went all over the place and he was big about, you know, being one of the best horse trainers he could be and doing these trainings with a guy that was very, very knowledgeable about everything about horses and cutting.

Tim Cornie - 00:05:00
And, he was so thankful that he says, you come to Europe. He goes, I'll take anything anywhere you wanna go. Wow. Well, the his the history of of Andrew was he was born behind the communist wall in Germany and you know, and and they you know, the stories are pretty intense, you know. If you didn't follow suit or had just a little bit of, a a sense of strong willed a little bit, they would move you to another school, beat the shit out of you, and then bring you back to the total line. Well, you know, he he would he told me some pretty abusive stuff that happens over there in that communist side.

Tim Cornie - 00:05:40
And so when the wall came down, when he got out, he traveled the world. And he lived in Brazil and India, and and he saw cancer healed with all kinds of special roots with kids. And, you know, and they got really into the high end chef, you know, kind of a caliber type of people.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:06:05
And,

Tim Cornie - 00:06:05
he also had a special skyding fighting skill that he learned when he was in, Brazil. This guy And so the the this guy was amazing. You know? And, so here he is wanting to be this number 1 cowboy and and cowcutter and all this stuff. And and so and I had cattle at the time and whatever. He'd come and ride our horses and just loved every minute of it. But when I was flying over to he said when he invited me to go to Europe, he goes, hey. You know, you come over. I'll I wanted to go to Ukraine because I knew it was super productive soil.

Tim Cornie - 00:06:32
I knew it was the bed basket of the of, you know, really huge bed basket. Yeah. And I wanted to kick the dirt and see it. And I've been to South America and I've been in the Pampas and I backpacked all through South America in 2010. So when people tell me, you know, they're 3rd world or this or that, and I go, no. They're not. They've got infrastructure, unbelievable soil like you can't believe.

Tim Cornie - 00:06:49
And so I've had the luxury of traveling the world and camp out all through Europe and South America. And I've been to, Japan and Korea and and, you know, I've been to Dubai and other places. So Wow. You know, so it gives you that diversity when you travel, you see things, you know? And at the time when I was farming, I was feeding a lot of dairy cattle and things like that. And I go, you know, when I come back, because the European style of food and I learned this from Andrew.

Tim Cornie - 00:07:18
He goes, Tim, your food is dead and our food's alive. And, you know, when you start buying a lot of our food, you know, you can throw that stuff on the counter and it'll you know, like our bread stay there for a month or it starts to mold. Their their bread over there will start to mold in 3 days because it's alive. It's starting to, you know. And so when you're over there and they make fresh bread, you're like, amazing meal plus the goat cheese in their diet. You don't see the obesity.

Tim Cornie - 00:07:44
And and the thing that I've experienced through all these travels, when you land into the American airport, you're like, holy shit. We got a problem, which we all know we do. Right? And so, you know, we've been the unhealthiest in this country for a while now, and what's really changed? Mhmm. You know, I have a nurse practitioner doctor that's, you know, she goes, Tammy, these cancer rates are jumping. Mhmm. You know?

Tim Cornie - 00:08:11
And, you know, I don't know what that is from, but, I'm assuming that because we got so much genetically modified and so much insecticides and pesticides in our farming practices, don't have the minerals in the soil like we once had because when you go back in time when my grandfather who farmed with horses, So, you know, they didn't have obesity or all these problems they have now. You know, he lived to be 96 years old. So we've gotten out of balance, that pendulum, you know, either swings one way or the other, and I think we just got out of balance. And so I'm excited about the technology coming down the road. I have a friend that has a a laser weeder, and I think it cost him $1,200,000. Wow.

Tim Cornie - 00:08:57
And they're saying Damn. He can take a picture of that weed and zap it with a laser and, you know, it, you know, it's it does amazing job. Problem is it's not it's only 4 rows. It's too expensive. So to do this on a high volume scale, this is why I see the future of a EON must type, pickup, because you can run on GPS and I can see, you know, taking a the technology that I see that works, we can just marry that because I see the camera technology getting so good with robotic arm. I watched a, these robots at this one trade show and they would have a 100 ping pong balls 1 through a 100, but you could put in any random number up to 7, and that thing would pick those balls up in the blink of an eye.

Tim Cornie - 00:09:44
You're like, holy shit. Wow. Well, when you take these color sorters, we got these 10 shoe color sorters that take a 1,000,000 pictures a second. Right? And if you have a defect in that crop, it will take a puff of air and blow that that blemish off of that certain crop and or bean or or whatever you wanna take out. That technology is getting so good that we're gonna be able to put a cyber truck in that field with the camper shell unit with that technology there with a big Draper header that's 30 foot wide with 6 to 7, robotic arms that's gonna have a 44 inch spread, that it's gonna be able to rogue that field just like a Roomba in your yard and be able to identify that red rit lambsquarter nightshade and what have you with that and then pictures and be able to take it out.

Tim Cornie - 00:10:15
Plus, we're gonna be able to put in a flower and a pea that or, another crop that is a nitrogen fixer and have multidiversity. And so when you've done that, when you get your pollinators healthy and then you're give leaving that ground covered, now your biology is starting to get rich and it's breaking down. And then when you have earthworms that are bring coming in and out, and they're munching on that carbon and bringing it down, air eating that soil. And as they do their magic, they're enriching that soil. Plus your organic matters coming up. So anytime that you have one unit of organic matter build up in your soil, you've got 30 units of nitrogen, phosphate, potash available to that next crop.

Tim Cornie - 00:11:18
So if you can get your organic matter up to a 4, you don't need any fertilizers. You're taking that natural organic what's there, and it's gonna become recycling itself. And the biology with the protozoa and the myceliums and the fungis, Now you've got this stuff enriching your soil. And then when that crap plants starts coming up, it's taking those nutrients and then it's taken up in that seed head and then we eat that seed head and that goes in the biome of our gut. And so you don't need the genetically modified bullshit. You don't need all this other stuff because you're gonna be able to let mother nature do what it does best.

Tim Cornie - 00:12:00
It knows better than we do. It fixes things, but we never allow it. And so this is this is where, you know, where I love that documentary kiss the ground. I mean, Woody Harrison did a beautiful job narrating that. Gabe Brown, you know, he's he's really educated and done a lot of good. The Gabe Brown is, I've gone to several of his workshops.

Tim Cornie - 00:12:25
You know, he's done a lot to get mindsets of farmers to think differently. And I love what he says. I love it. He says, I don't wanna sign the front of a check. I wanna sign the back of the check, you know, and, and he's right. And so we got to rethink our farming style and our practices.

Tim Cornie - 00:12:47
And then, and I think this technology, and I know he on must has got a lot he's already too busy. Right? Mhmm. But but it's I just see 3 technologies marrying together. And when I see those cyber trucks in the in the road, I'm like, that sound just needs to be out in the field because that thing could be you know? I mean, it could be going back and forth, you know, 247 and, you know, with a 354100 mile.

Tim Cornie - 00:13:11
But when it's only creeping at a mile an hour

Kyle Krull - 00:13:20
Yeah.

Tim Cornie - 00:13:20
Back and forth through that field, it's gonna be really efficient with the battery. And then, you know, it's I think they got the technology there. Just run to the house and plug it in and and but, you know, I I just think that that is gonna be a huge game changer because farmers can't afford a $1,200,000 piece of equipment like that. But when you have something a little bit more basic and more simple to work on, and then it's at a, say, a $250,000 price point, I think that's where you could have that all built in around that price point. Now farmers can afford that because number 1, they're not spending money on chemical, and they're also gonna get a higher market share because they're doing chemical free. And then and then also, you know, they're doing the right thing. And also they have a truck to drive when they get done. When it when the when that period's done, you just pull the camera and show you it off and, you know, go on a date. You know?

Tim Cornie - 00:14:10
So, so I I'm excited for the future of that. I mean, we haven't even got into the drones and what they're able to do. You know? They were also had the capabilities of droning that field and mapping, you know, all the things. Now the other thing that

Kyle Krull - 00:14:32
we go any further into the tech, because, I mean, we've gone way down the rabbit hole.

Tim Cornie - 00:14:35
Yeah. And I

Kyle Krull - 00:14:35
really appreciate this Tim went

Anthony Corsaro - 00:14:37
full regen farmer porn right out the

Tim Cornie - 00:14:40
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He got me fired up. Right? Yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:14:44
Well, I mean, I've I've never heard about we I don't think we've ever discussed on the podcast tech advancements and how it could benefit region in that level of depth. So that was super educational. I really appreciate the perspective. I do wanna bring it back to the part of the story with Andrew and about, like Yeah. Food being alive in Europe versus food being dead in the United States. I'm assuming this is sort of when you had your own, quote, regenerative awakening or whatever you wanna call that. So tell us a little bit more about what you learned during your trip in Europe and how you started to apply and when regenerative principles in the farm, man, that you manage yourself.

Tim Cornie - 00:15:15
Well, I was kinda regen by default because I didn't realize when I was running the cattle, as soon as I harvested the crop, I was broadcasting barley out there and watering it up and getting it, you know, a foot and a half tall. And then I'd buy cattle that, cold cows or whatever. It came off the desert lean and put them out there and get in a compensatory gain, you know, 3 or £4. And then what had a calf, I calved it and paired it and, you know, and they and then hamburger the the cows that didn't have a cab, but they were fleshy. While I was doing that naturally because I needed to feed and what I was doing, but that's a form of regenerative because you are you're like, Gabe Brown says, you're you're you don't want that ground naked. You always want something growing in it. When that plant dies, that root mass is growing in there is breaking down and feeding the next crop because that's your fertilizer.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:16:10
Mhmm.

Tim Cornie - 00:16:11
Bless bless I've I've walked away from the cattle side and I let my friend come in with 4,000 added sheep, and that's part of our our practice is mob grazing that crop. And so I you know, you're kinda mimicking the buffalo in the Midwest. You know, that's how they built that huge profile over all those years is those buffalo were roaming, did what they did. You know? And so, we're just mirroring what the old Basco's already did, you know, 100 of years ago. It just now we have the technology to maybe do that on a different scale and be because the labor is not there for the hand weeding.

Kyle Krull - 00:16:50
Right. Makes sense. So you're sort of regenerative by default prior to the Europe trip. You know, when you came back, was there something that you realized, like, hey. I wanna do this differently. I wanna try maybe this style. I wanna grow this crop. You know, what changed after

Tim Cornie - 00:17:02
that? Yeah. I was flying back, and I said, you know, I I'm gonna quit feeding cows. I'm gonna feed humans. I mean, I I walked. After that experience of being in Europe, I you know, people don't have celiacs over there. They're they don't have the issues that we have. I talked to a, a chemist, and he says, you know, there's 44 chromosomes in our conventional grain. The older varieties only have 14. And so when we started when you you look at the difference of them chromosomes, we're just our gut wouldn't handle it, and that's where that celiacs, I believe, is coming from. Is the fact is that, you know, we're having a hard time processing that many chromosomes in this newer style of grain that's been bred up.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:17:47
Mhmm. How, Tim, how did you go from switching from cattle to to more cropping to such a diverse rotation that you have now? I mean, I don't know the products on the website. I feel like there's gotta be more than 10 there. And how are you managing all that?

Tim Cornie - 00:17:59
Yeah. I mean I mean, you know, you always want crop diversity and you want rotation. That's part of what you gotta do for your soil. You know, you're you plant, a bean, and then you plant your grains behind the bean because beans are nitrogen fixer. Mhmm. And then, you know, you just have this this rotation that you do. What's fascinating about the older varieties, we have a a Tibetan purple barley that we grow that's from Tibet. And when that volunteers up, you can grab that root and pull that plant out and smell that soil, and you're just like, holy crap. It just you wanna eat that dirt. I mean, it's, you can get that difference.

Tim Cornie - 00:18:31
And you're like, you know, there's something, and I can't put my finger on it that's different. And, you know, when you get to these older just like some of the old corn we have, you know, that blue corn and we had a another corn we had, the albanaki. You know, bees, you never see bees in corn, but you would see bees hitting those tassels and just, you know, just being active. And so and that's the thing that, you know, you're doing the right thing. When you have bees that are active, you have worms that are earthworms that are really working your soil. And, you know, and and I know this sounds weird, but, man, when I had a standing field of corn and fall comes, they're hitting my field.

Tim Cornie - 00:19:08
I don't know why they love my field, but they're not going to my neighbors. They're going to mine. You know? They're circling. And so I don't know, you know, whether they can tell something different than or not. But, Yeah. It's been quite a journey and you and you're never done learning.

Tim Cornie - 00:19:23
Mhmm. I think I know less now today than I've ever known before because what I thought was true wasn't true. Mhmm. And

Anthony Corsaro - 00:19:46
Have you always been organic, or is organic no?

Tim Cornie - 00:19:50
What's that?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:19:51
Have you always been organic, or is organic something that's new?

Tim Cornie - 00:19:54
No. I've been organic for quite a while. I I, what got me into organic in a lot of ways, number 1, not only the European trip, but I have a boy with tuberous cirrhosis.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:20:06
Wow.

Tim Cornie - 00:20:07
And it's benign tumors in the brain, one behind the eye, one behind the heart. And and I didn't know when he was having seizures and tipping over when he was 2a half years old, 3, You know, I went to the neurologist. He said, well, this is what we think. Well, the way he presented it, I I came home looking for a funeral plot and where am I gonna bury him and and I was divorced at the time. And you're like, do I buy 4 plots because I'm divorced? Do I buy one for the ex wife? You know, do you really wanna be buried with her?

Tim Cornie - 00:20:29
But, you know, these are things you never even think about. Mhmm. And so, thank God he did better than they said and, you know, and, the seizure medication was worse. The side effects of that was just horrible when you read it. Mhmm. And I got him off as soon as I can, but he he's done substantially well.

Tim Cornie - 00:20:48
But it also got to thinking about, you know, did all that chemical that I handled in high school coming up? Because, you know, you used to have that backpack sprayer and that splash around up and that 24 d and 638 would get on your back or you know, they haven't changed the technology and the bean chemicals. You know? You had the Eptam Sonalan was a combo, and it was bright orange, you know, yellow orange, colored. And you'd be out there putting that on and and, you know, the pump breaks and the line broke and you're taking a bath in that and then you fix it and and then you go you go finish the field and you go to the house and wash yourself off and change clothes or whatever. But you know what? What's weird about some of these chemicals is I can smell it on a conventional farm driving by. I could taste it on my tongue.

Tim Cornie - 00:21:38
And, yeah. So, I mean, I don't know why that is. But you're like, holy shit. I can taste it. And I've I I brought that up to some old farmers. He goes, Tim, I have the same I experienced the same thing.

Tim Cornie - 00:21:51
And so what I handled or, you know, all those years coming up, did that affect my DNA? It affect now my daughter's healthy, Charlie, who wants to farm. She's a daughter, 23. She's an accountant now and doing some things, and she wants to run the farm. But, you know so you're you're and then I had a a kid down the road, and he got pancreatic cancer. And this person's got a tumor, you know, down the road, and you're like, alright.

Tim Cornie - 00:22:19
So and you see these airplanes, napalm, and all these fields with warrior and insecticides and stuff like that, and and we restudied mother nature and the balance of mother nature, when you kill all the beneficial insects along with the bad ones, which one breeds back faster? You know? So we we took these things out of out of, out of balance, you know. And that's the other thing about the cyber truck, and I don't wanna go down that road real quick. But the thing is, though, is that technology is gonna be able to identify a plant disease and flag you and warn you. And if you do have some red spider or a aphid or another problem, it's gonna put up a flag and say, alright.

Tim Cornie - 00:22:57
You need to put out some ladybugs here and put some lay swing here. So it's gonna give you some some tools to go out there and get ahead of it early so that you're gonna put out the because bug on bug warfare works.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:23:21
Yeah. It's interesting to hear you be so pro tech because I feel like people assume that regenerative regenerative organic is like Ludditeville. Right? But, I don't know how many acres you're managing, but I know it's a lot. Right? And you need you need tools to manage that amount of of land, especially if you're going to manage it for these, you know, soil health outcomes that we're all talking about.

Tim Cornie - 00:23:42
Yeah. I mean, I I really I think that's really the answer. And I think we're just couple years out because, you know, the technology is coming so fast with AI and all these things that I see the benefit of of of wrapping onto that new technology and get the price point to where a farmer can afford it because he's gonna pay for that thing in 2, 3 years, which is a hell of a return on investment. And, you know, just for example, for, like, rice. I was talking to a rice farmer, and they're in Arkansas down there where there's only 2 places in the United States you can get your rice. It's down there in Arkansas area, close to Mississippi, and then you got California, the central part of California. And they were telling me the chemicals that are used because they have a wild rice that they do not want. So they use some pretty aggressive insect or pesticide herb herbicide that that will kill that one, you know, wild rice that they do not want. Mhmm.

Tim Cornie - 00:24:29
Well, when you have camera technology and they can see that that's different, it's gonna be able to, you know, take that head off and and not be able to have to use some of this stuff. So I really think that that's the where we need to be, and we're 3 to 5 4 years away from this thing getting really dialed in.

Kyle Krull - 00:24:59
Mhmm. That's incredible. I'm really curious. Now you obviously are a very passionate farmer. You've got a an interesting crop diversity that we just discussed, you know, briefly. When did the brand 1000 springs come into play, and why did you decide you need to create your own brand?

Tim Cornie - 00:25:15
Well, I when I came back from Europe, I said, you know, I'm gonna feed I'm gonna feed humans and not cows. And so to do that, my whole goal was to take I got 8 800 acres organic ground. And then I have friends and neighbors that got their acres and stuff like that that we tried to, you know, bring in for certain contracts. But I I wanted to take everything on that farm, and I wanted to make it healthy, and I wanted to put it in a retail bag, and I wanna put it across the United States and be vertically integrated. That was my goal. Now I was a little naive because it's harder than that. Right. It really is because you got the sliding fees.

Tim Cornie - 00:25:49
You gotta get to the buyers. You know? You gotta Mhmm. You know? And then you got transportation, and then you got UNFI and CAHI, which were brokers that take 20, 30%, you know, to distribute it and handle it. And and so there's just a lot of you know, the food system is and then Amazon. That's another animal because of the weight and the freight.

Tim Cornie - 00:26:13
The margins are are not that great on on Amazon. And so, you know, everybody's got their piece and you're last. And so, you know, so it's been quite an education, quite a journey.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:26:36
Yeah.

Tim Cornie - 00:26:36
And, but, you know, here was I was thinking when I started this, like, I'm gonna put this mill on my place. And then I, you know, that Pillsbury plant, was they were they were shutting it down and going over to the Midwest because they could be more efficient. And so it just worked out to, able to pick that up, and you couldn't ask for a better place and a beautiful facility. And so, then we started installing the gluten free flour and then the co packing packaging lines and then, you know, the color sorters. And it takes time to install this equipment and then be able to warehouse, for other people, you know, their food too.

Kyle Krull - 00:27:16
Right. Well, I, for 1, am stoked. And this time, it is super fortuitous. I'm a big popcorn fan. And I was recently looking and I mean I mean, like, bagged popcorn. Like, buy my own kernels and pop them

Tim Cornie - 00:27:25
at home. Yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:27:26
And it's not easy to find inorganic unpopped popcorn. It is actually quite hard, shockingly. Yeah. Yeah. So the fact that you've got a 100% organic popping corn, non GMO verified, that supports region, it's like, man, I'm gonna be your best customer here pretty quick. I already bought it on the box.

Tim Cornie - 00:27:43
Well, I'm glad to be on this podcast and tell everybody because we do have a flavor for popcorn. We really do. Yeah. And, and so an expo last year. Right? That I remember. I mean, it was good. You you had

Anthony Corsaro - 00:27:53
some little spices

Tim Cornie - 00:27:54
on it and everything. It was really Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's it's, Yeah. It's it's it's really I know because no one really grows popcorn in an Idaho. We're kinda higher elevation. I don't know if that's what's making that have such a nutty flavor, but it's it's really good. People love it.

Kyle Krull - 00:28:12
I'm psyched. I get when you try it. So it's on its way. You know? I, I really placed you order, like, since we've been on this episode. Yeah. Okay. Good. Yeah. So what what is the journey been like as a brand? You mentioned some of the the hurdles and the pitfalls. Like, have you got some retail distribution so far? You know, are you just local stores in Idaho, or what's the retail path been like?

Kyle Krull - 00:28:25
Well, we we are

Tim Cornie - 00:28:31
in a in a UNFI, CAHI, and we and we have been trying to push some brands, you know, with some brokers trying to get, you know, over on the East Coast and stuff like that. Mhmm. You know, it's been a kind of a struggle to get in some of these bigger retailers, you know. And and when you start I went to Chicago here a couple weeks ago and and, you know, Aldi's gave a nice speech and and a lot of these stores want their own brand. They really want you to they're sending it up to where they want a co pack just like Costco wants Kirkland. You know, they they they get something that works and then they they put in Kirkland and that's what they're doing. So, you know, if you can't beat them, join them. So here we are. Let's let's go pack and put our healthy product in your product, that brand name.

Tim Cornie - 00:29:10
But I'm still pushing our brand as we go, you know, because of ecommerce and Amazon and and some other platforms. You know, you just want that diversity.

Kyle Krull - 00:29:27
Yeah. For sure. You don't wanna be a monoculture in your sales. You know? Just like you don't wanna be a monoculture

Tim Cornie - 00:29:31
in your sales. Yeah. Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:29:33
Tim, I was really interested by this Barleymax product on the website. I've never seen anything like that. I was really intrigued by what it is, and I was also intrigued that it was in 1 ounce individual servings. Tell us, what is this Barleymax thing? Talk to us about this.

Tim Cornie - 00:29:46
Well, so Barleymax got it originally came from Australia. And so, so it comes from Australia, and we grow it in Idaho.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:29:55
Tim's worldwide, baby. We got worldwide connections everywhere.

Tim Cornie - 00:29:59
Well yeah. So they use it in flour. They make, the tortillas with them. They do all kinds of stuff with that barley. Well, it it almost they've tried to get it to where it was certified gluten free because they're just hardly I mean, barley has a touch of gluten in it, but it's very small, whatever. Now doctor William Lee, if you follow him, he's a cancer researcher, and, you know, he talks about blueberries and different things that are you know, what it does to your system. Well, barley builds new blood cells, and so barley is a really super healthy food for you. And, so the barley max the barley coming from Australia, they it just it's a high fiber. So for elderly, older people, and whatever, they need high fiber. It's rolled like an oatmeal.

Tim Cornie - 00:30:44
So what I do, and we have oatmeal that's really super good, we take that, barley mix and I blend it at home, you know, with a little bit of my oatmeal, and then cook it together and then eat it together. But it really brings that fiber up extremely high. And so the reason we put it in the small packs because it's got 30, it lasts you a month. That one box has last you a month, so you can dole it out. But so many people are not getting enough fiber that once the reason we put it in small packs is because people eat too much at the very beginning. Mhmm.

Tim Cornie - 00:31:09
They they they, have bowel movement that'll surprise the shit out of them. So, anyway Literally. Literally. And so it could be kinda embarrassing. So we figured, okay. Let's just limit it this, you know, to where it it it gets them a doled out kind of a smaller level.

Tim Cornie - 00:31:28
And then, you know but once your a system is built up and you get that fiber like you should, then you can handle more fiber right off the bat. But if you sell that product to somebody and they they they have an accident in the grocery store, they're gonna blame you, you know. So you're like, alright. We're gonna limit you on this this small pack.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:31:50
So it's it's a proprietary varietal that you have to source a specific type of seed, and then you get to use that trademark in products or that's

Tim Cornie - 00:31:57
Yeah. The trademark, yeah. You have to pay royalty to a a company that that has that that that

Anthony Corsaro - 00:32:02
Okay.

Tim Cornie - 00:32:03
Patented, grain. So yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:32:06
I'm curious.

Tim Cornie - 00:32:07
Yeah. It's it's a big deal in Australia. Yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:32:09
I I gotta do a shout out for bone broth oatmeal. I can't wait to try bone broth barley max and make it savory. You know? Yeah. Yeah. Sounds like a nutritional powerhouse. You know, 20 grams of protein, good fiber, complex carbohydrates. So yeah. That's it. I need to go back to the store and make another purchase before this podcast is over.

Tim Cornie - 00:32:25
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Kyle Krull - 00:32:26
I'm interested in trying this.

Tim Cornie - 00:32:28
Yeah. Yeah. No. You you'll actually really like it. It has a good flavor.

Kyle Krull - 00:32:32
Awesome.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:32:34
Tim, let's talk a little bit more about the processing business. I think that's a part of this whole regenerative thing we'd like to talk more about and a big reason why we wanted to have you and some others on this year of, like, there's there's a couple and I'll I'll be a little bit long winded, then I'll then I'll turn it back to you here in a second. We see farmers and brands holding a lot of the responsibility and the economic risk in building these regenerative products and supply chains. And so we think there's more of a role for middle market kind of processor entities to play. And then we also, like you mentioned, you know, we don't really think the distributors and the retailers are really fully doing their part because they just continue to place all the economic risk on the farmer and the brand. So Yes. It's it's you've kind of shared a little bit why you got into that business. What has that been like?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:33:14
How has it given you, like, additional leverage to do more of what you wanted to do on the farm or have neighbors do more of these practices? Like, just talk to us about the importance of that processing and what operating that business has been like.

Tim Cornie - 00:33:32
Well, that's a really, big question there. So, let me think about how to answer that properly. The the regenerative the regenerative market, it's been the the problem has been education.

Kyle Krull - 00:33:49
Mhmm.

Tim Cornie - 00:33:49
K? And that's why I'm thankful for you boys because you're getting the word out because people don't know what regenerative really is. You ask a lot of farmers. Well, what no. They don't even know what the hell regenerative really means. You know? And so, so the educating that it and then also having some groundwork around what is regenerative. You know, that's what's good about having that certificate because they come out there and they audit you and they check your soil and they check your, you know, what what's your practices and you write it down. And, also, is how how are your employees being treated? You know, that's a big part of that regenerative, certificate.

Tim Cornie - 00:34:19
And so that that there has been the education of what is it, what does it mean. Also, you have some people that can throw 1 goat in the middle of the field and say, look at me. I'm regenerative. Well, that's, you know, where's where's the where's the guidelines that clarify what is regenerative and what's not.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:34:46
Right.

Tim Cornie - 00:34:46
So that's what's important about that ROC certificate. And so the, you know, the whole thing is is, you know, we there were because of people also have such celiac problems and some that's why we installed a gluten free flour meal that was certified because so many people are struggling. So, you know, we put that in because we saw the market there for that and some corn meal and some other things that, you know, that people had a place to go to get their you know, I'm trying to get more cut clients to come in and make more, gluten free, you know, like flaxseed and chickpea flour and other things like that. So, basically, that plan is there to serve not only my farm, but also the community's farms so we can find markets to buy their product, to find a home for it, to feed the masses. You know? For us to be vertically integrated, I think we're one of the bigger vertically integrated outfits out there. But, also, I I got a friend named Justin Brown, and and he is an amazing farmer, and he's doing something very similar like we are.

Tim Cornie - 00:35:47
And, he's he's really a a a good good guy.

Kyle Krull - 00:36:00
Yeah. You know, what I love about the vertical integration you're talking about is it it resonates for me, like, decentralizing the food system. Right? Instead of there being a massive grain somewhere in the Midwest and everybody shipping their their crops all the way to this one centralized location and shipping it back to those those spots, You're really helping to support that decentralization, provide some level of economic benefit to your immediate community. And then, you know, theoretically, you know, the way a lot of brands scale, you you might start local, start small, and then spread out from there. But that decentralization, I think, is gonna be such a big key and part of what can keep our food alive more than the European model. Right? So I commend you for your efforts to do that.

Tim Cornie - 00:36:34
Yeah. Well, thank you. Yeah. I I mean, I'll I'll I'll be honest with you. This is the hardest thing I've ever done. This is this is not easy, and you're wearing a lot of hats. And, and so but I believe in what we're doing. And Yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:36:49
You know, it's it's something I'm wrestling with right now as a brand. I won't name too many specifics, but we're in the midst of launching a limited release SKU. There are only so many bones available for this particular product, and the distribution system doesn't wanna take it in. Big district. Because they want to be able to open up the product to the entire retail sector. Instead of saying, like, acknowledging the fact they were trying to support a specific community by using a specific subset of bones. They're like, no.

Tim Cornie - 00:37:14
No. No.

Kyle Krull - 00:37:15
We're gonna penalize you if you don't open it up to the rest of the retailers. And to me, it's just so backwards, and this is just like you it's a hard thing to do. There are so many of these little administrative, like, middlemen pieces that you don't really take into consideration that make it so hard to try to do the right thing to fix the

Tim Cornie - 00:37:32
food system. You know? Yes. Yes. Yes. It's I don't have the answer to how to fix that just yet. I'll I'll be honest with you.

Kyle Krull - 00:37:39
I You and me both, brother. You know what? But, you know, we we can talk about it. We can we can try. That's all we can do.

Tim Cornie - 00:37:44
Well, that's all we can do. You know? And and, and then you have the the you know? So here's what I also see is you have the bigger, retailers just getting they're getting bigger. And like I said, they want it in their brand. They want, you know, they want it Right. In their packaging. And they also wanna ham hammer you down on price so that, you know and so now you're sitting there with a premium product, you know, not getting your premium that you just you need Mhmm. Because there you gotta hit that price point on that shelf. And and so, yeah, it it is a battle.

Kyle Krull - 00:38:22
And to your point, to me, that all goes back to education. If consumers really understood what regenerative is, why it's important, why it's beneficial for them, they would potentially theoretically be more willing to pay the premium to support purchasing those products. Right? So the fact that we don't have that mass consumer adoption and educational unlock makes it more likely you're gonna get beat down by your customers because their their whole argument is, well, the consumers aren't willing to pay the premium either. You know? So that that's what we gotta focus on as a movement.

Tim Cornie - 00:38:50
That's right. That's right. And you and that's correct what you just said. Yep.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:38:55
Tim, what's what is the current baseline of value in your businesses for this regenerative work? If I'm reading everything correctly, the farm is regenerative organic certified. I don't think you have the certs on their individual branded products, but I'm assuming you're selling some ingredient, like, wholesale customers with rock, you know, attached

Tim Cornie - 00:39:17
to something like that. So yeah. We're we're working on, a brand, you know, like 365, you know, for whole whole foods, you know, to be able to put rock. You know, I've got some white corn that makes beautiful cornflour. I've got some beans and stuff like that. So, you know, working on trying to, put that, you know and and I appreciate, you know, Whole Foods is wanting to do the right thing, and they see the value in the rock. So but, but also you got other people that are wanting to buy my product wholesale and put it in that bag and get the premium and be the middle guy. You got that also. So, you know, you you wanna have that relationship with, you know, with those buyers to say, listen. You know?

Tim Cornie - 00:39:51
Let's work together and not, you know, try to try to get a little bit of a premium, but they but they also because consumer the grocery the grocery bill is just killing the consumer. I mean, these guys are running out of budget. It is tough. It is tough. And but, you know, when you think about, you know, when you have a regenerative organic product, you know, it'd be nice to get that little premium because you're only talking I think our beans, like, 30¢ a serving. I mean, you could feed your whole family. Yeah.

Tim Cornie - 00:40:26
So, you know, when you when you talk about you know, if you can if you're only at 30¢, I mean, here's the thing about organic. It is so worth the extra 50¢ to pay for that, just that little premium. It's not that much more. There's been a lot of love put into that crop, and you are what you eat. I don't give I don't care what anybody says. The way and it's more than just the food.

Tim Cornie - 00:40:48
It's it's how your frame of mind is and how you think and how you feel and how you, you know, getting your sleep and and getting movement. I mean, it I mean, the secret of life is finding balance, and that's that's the hardest thing for any of us. I mean, we're such a to perform and to get to be profitable, you know, you're constantly working and thinking and processing or whatever. And and so, you know, I think that's why some of these younger kids, not the millennials, but I don't know if it's generation z. Mhmm. You know, their personal time is more important to them. And and because they've looked at us and say, I don't wanna be you. You know? Yeah.

Tim Cornie - 00:41:22
So

Anthony Corsaro - 00:41:33
One one thing I wanted to ask you about, Tim, and maybe educate the audience on is you sell wheat to, organization called Chatham Imports, and they produce, something called Farmers Gin. And your your comments around, you know, these stable crops actually aren't that expensive for you to eat. We're just struggling to kinda get it to the consumer at that approachable price point by the time it gets through all these hands. Is regenerative better served by starting with category and products like alcohol and gin because there's more price elasticity and it's less of a you know, it's less less hands maybe touching it? Like, how has that partnership been, and what do you think about that?

Tim Cornie - 00:42:10
Well, that's a really good question. I I I Joe and Lily and and FarmersGen people are good people. I really enjoy them. And and and our goal, you know I mean, I I I wanna make bread and pasta and and make ingredients to goes in the into the that are healthy that goes to the gut. Right? Yeah. And I can't make a claim that organic alcohol is good for you because Yeah. You know, because that's but but here here's where the healthy part of alcohol is, and I'll say this.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:42:40
Yeah. It's less bad for you than the other ones, you know.

Tim Cornie - 00:42:43
Well, it it that is true, but the thing is though, when you are sharing a drink with friends and family, there's a bonding moment sharing a drink with with your friends and family, and it's a social healthy thing to communicate and to spend that time. Mhmm. And so what I like what I like like about Joe and FarmersGen and we also make a brand for American Harvest. Dave, bought the 70 sixers, and, we make a a line for him called American Harvest, and Rebecca manages that deal. And, amazing good people as well. They they like what we're doing, and so they're supporting us. So my extra flat wheat that I grow that's not going into ingredients and flour and breads and whatever, that goes to mash that goes get fermented to go into their drinks.

Tim Cornie - 00:43:28
And so they're supporting us by supporting our belief and what we're trying to do. So I'm thankful for them because, you know, it's helped you know, it's it just we're we're we're, you know, working together.

Kyle Krull - 00:43:54
Right. Totally. One one other thing I'd like to add to the potential benefits of supporting the categories of alcohol. You know, it's one of those weird categories where there's, like, a I shouldn't say weird. There's a level of appreciation for, like, the terroir and the nuance of flavor. And when people can start to trace back a drink to a specific location and or practice and you can start to have a level of appreciation for that, I think there's some cascading benefits that will seep down into other commodity crops. Right?

Tim Cornie - 00:44:22
Yes.

Kyle Krull - 00:44:22
So it is one of those great places to sort of lead with the regenerative story to get people to understand this is why it's important to adopt these practices, and that can then translate to the rest of their pantry eventually in theory.

Tim Cornie - 00:44:34
Well and, you know, that I I got, in Forbes Magazine in in December in December. And, you know, because of Farmers Gen and they're wanting that ROC, they did, Isha did a beautiful story.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:44:52
Yeah.

Tim Cornie - 00:44:53
That woman that wrote that, she she writes for Time Magazine and for Forbes. Mhmm. And that gal has a photographic memory, and she's brilliant. She knew more about regenerative farming than most people I knew, which blew me away. She came to the farm for 2 days Yeah. Walked out farm with me, and I told her everything we're doing and why we do what we do. And, you know, we we also grow buckwheat, behind some grains, and that's a a natural, fertilizer for the next year's crop because it puts on a beautiful white flower. Mhmm. And it's a phosphate pump, and it's good for the ground. And so she knew that stuff.

Tim Cornie - 00:45:25
You know, we go out there and we're walking around and Rob's showing her all this practice and she goes, alright, man. You're you're legit. So we're gonna put this in the in the Forbes Magazine. And so, you know, it was kind of an honor to be able to be put in that magazine.

Kyle Krull - 00:45:46
Yeah. Well, that's a cool spotlight too. I never would have guessed that a writer for Time and Forbes was that level of, you know, entrenched into the regenerative space to be able to, like, have that level of awareness. You know? So that amazing for her. Yes. And it's so cool to know that people like that exist, and they have some level of I don't know if you wanna call it sway or they participate in these mass publications that are designed for, like, mass consumption and not just, like, specialty regenerative or natural food audiences.

Tim Cornie - 00:46:11
Yes. Yeah. No. It's it's really I mean, the thing is, though, we're in this era now where we are learning more. I've learned more off of YouTube than I ever did in college. You know? You know? I mean, if you don't if you don't know it, you someone's posted on there how to do it. And so, you know, we're we're at this information era in in our lives right now where we have so much information at our fingertips. The problem is we're we're getting information overload, and what do you keep and what do you let go? Right? Mhmm.

Tim Cornie - 00:46:37
And so but there is a lot of people getting informed, and that's the key to regenerative farming is what this podcast you're out there, you you know, there's hopefully there's gonna be 5 or 10 or 20,000 people see this. And they're gonna say, oh, I didn't know this or I didn't know that. And then they they when they see that ROC sticker on that product, they're like, wow. These guys are bleeding, you know, and and doing a lot of work and a lot of the right things to get this product in my in my pantry. And so, you know, they're willing to pay that extra 50¢.

Kyle Krull - 00:47:13
Let's expand on that concept. You know, if if you're talking to the average consumer, someone you don't know who doesn't know what regenerative is and you had to distill down, like, why it is important to them, why they should make the 50¢ premium purchase on a regenerative product, what do you think that they that it is that they need to know?

Tim Cornie - 00:47:30
Well, it comes right down to the soil. Right? Because your soil is all our minerals and all our nutrients. We you know, it comes from that soil. Mhmm. So when you take those then that plant's taking those nutrients out of that healthier soil, and then they put they're buying that product and putting the bio in their gut. It's that simple. Mhmm.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:47:52
Yeah. And I think the the opportunity is like a parallel one of Kyle's previous comments about and and your previous comments, Tim, around just general awareness and education on this term regenerative. Right? We have to increase the awareness and education of that term. And like we've talked about a 1000000000 times on this show and in many other conversations, we have to link it to the purchasing decision outcomes in specific products and categories. So in alcohol, it might be purity and flavor. In barley, it might be better bowel movements.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:48:16
In

Kyle Krull - 00:48:22
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:48:23
You know? In in a wheat based product like bread, it might be it doesn't upset your stomach. Whatever that is, like, whatever is actually driving purchase and then saying, hey. This extra love that was put in on the farmer's side in these practices, like, that's what's creating that outcome. And you have some general awareness of that term, so that's not just some crazy word that you've never heard of.

Tim Cornie - 00:48:43
Right. Yes. That's you you nailed it right there. That's fact.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:48:47
Yeah. Yeah. What Tim, you you obviously have done a lot of farming over the years. You you know farmers. You work with other farmers. You've you've mentioned a couple things that could be helpful. Right? Just like more overall demand for products that are farmed this way. Right? Better distributor and retailer commitment relationships, some ag tech improvements. Out of all of those or maybe one you haven't listed, like, what how do we get every farmer to farm this way?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:49:07
Like, what what do we need to do? What would

Tim Cornie - 00:49:14
Well, what is super interesting is, there's a lot of hedge funds that were trying to buy farmland, and they were wanting to go regenerative. Mhmm. And I was, the the thing is, though, is farmers can go regenerative, but where are they gonna go with that product?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:49:31
Right.

Tim Cornie - 00:49:31
And and so I I I told those hedge fund guys, I said, you know, listen. You gotta build a market and you gotta build a pipeline to get to the masses. Yes. And so you can't put the cart in front of the horse. Number 1, start on that pipeline and we're that pipeline, I believe. And so let's get some, you know, some support with, the bigger retailers. If they want a private label on their product, then let's get that volume there that they demand, with just a couple pennies more. They don't have to you know?

Tim Cornie - 00:49:54
And and then then the farmer will produce it. They'll bring it to the table. If you create a market first, the farmer will perform. And, especially, like I said, the technology, I won't beat that band that that horse to death, but that's gonna that is a secret to the mass of getting all this land on the right healthy path because we need more than just a handful of people doing this, feeding a few people that can afford to do it. We need it. We need to be doing this across the board. Mhmm. And so, and and it's gonna it's slowly gonna get there.

Tim Cornie - 00:50:33
It'll get there, and it'll build, and it'll build, and it'll build, and it'll build. And this technology is just gonna be it's AI future is just insane. What's gonna have to come down the road?

Kyle Krull - 00:50:49
Yeah. Well, Tim, if you could do us a favor, call those histogram guys, tell them, you know, a couple of dudes working on developing the market, and we'd be happy we'd be happy to work with them, you know. And then they can buy all the land they want, turn into regen land. Like, we're on the same team. You know, let's just make that happen.

Tim Cornie - 00:51:04
Yes. Yes.

Kyle Krull - 00:51:05
But no. You you mentioned the AI future. I wanna kinda take the future back to specifically 1,000 springers. What's next for you? Is it more crops? Is it more land? Is it more SKUs? Are you focusing on more partnerships with retail? You've mentioned the private label quite a bit. Like, what are you hoping to achieve for the brand Thousand Springs over the next, you know, 1, 3, 5

Tim Cornie - 00:51:23
years? Here here's the direction I'm going to, and I'm working on a product development right now. And it and it is really super delicious. And, trying to make a combination of 5 or 6 healthy plants based recipes that you can reconstitute with hot water. Mhmm. And there's no preservatives, there's no sugar, you reconstitute it, and you put it in a wax sealed, like a oatmeal type envelope instead of plastic and be able to have that in your pantry when, you know, when I travel, like, when I was in Korea, I was asking, you know, the women there there giving me this tour through the grocery store and what they want and what they didn't want.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:52:07
Yeah.

Tim Cornie - 00:52:07
You know, they said, I want a plastic bowl that I can heat and I can eat it and I can throw it in the recycle bin. I don't do any dishes. That's what the that's what Koreans girls want. Mhmm. You go to Japan and they're like, well, I'm okay with a retort bag, but I want something convenient and ready to eat. Mhmm. But also when you look at the consumer in America, we're all busy. The households are shrinking.

Tim Cornie - 00:52:24
We only got 2 to 3 people in a household anymore, you know, and old people, the demographics with the baby boomers, they don't wanna cook a big meal either.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:52:41
Right.

Tim Cornie - 00:52:41
So, our our strategy is to get something convenient, super healthy, that meets all your nutritional needs that you conveniently open, heat. You know, you got a 1st grader or a second grader comes home from school. Mom's still at work. She's wiped out. Yeah. And and and they can eat that and and hate it and eat it and make it so convenient that, and so that's where we have to go. And and just take it instead of just pantry staple raw ingredients, make it ex extremely easy to consume.

Kyle Krull - 00:53:13
I love that. It make regen convenient. I don't think, that that sentiment has really been shared. So the answer

Anthony Corsaro - 00:53:20
Make some hats.

Kyle Krull - 00:53:20
Idea. Yeah.

Tim Cornie - 00:53:22
Yeah. Hats.

Kyle Krull - 00:53:24
Simple shirts.

Tim Cornie - 00:53:25
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Kyle Krull - 00:53:26
But, so we, like, I'm trying to just, like, think through this product in my head. I'm trying to picture it. Is it like a soup mix kind of a thing or like

Tim Cornie - 00:53:33
Well, it it it kinda is, but it kinda not because when it reconstitutes itself, I mean, there's one that they're working on that's even, well, I mean, it's just got it's got it's got, like I don't I hate to say all the ingredients we have in it, but it's all the healthy plant based foods that are super I thought

Anthony Corsaro - 00:53:48
you got a saying. Don't don't get away the same thing.

Tim Cornie - 00:53:50
That we're putting into this product because we're just getting it fired up. And because a lot of this stuff in the in the grocery store now, you can heat, need, you know, rice. You can do you know? But it doesn't have the diversity of, you know, a little bit of beans, a little bit of this, a little bit of that and whatever. And so, yeah, the whole goal is to just have a super nutrient dense food is convenient. And it's kinda like a soup, but it's not really. It's kinda it's it's, and you can eat it with a fork. You can eat it with a spoon.

Tim Cornie - 00:54:18
It's it's so easy, and it's got a a different flavor profiles. We're working on about 6 or 7 different flavor profiles. And so

Kyle Krull - 00:54:34
Super interesting. I can't wait to try this whenever it comes up. Yeah. It also sounds great for, like, camping. Right? Like, if you're camping or backpacking somewhere, like, this is a great, like, you know, REI exposure or something like outdoor industry exposure.

Tim Cornie - 00:54:46
Well, yeah, it it does have that and also, some of the newer technology that, makes that product because you can make it without the preservatives and because you pulled out all that moisture when it reconstituted. So it's so amazing the way we're doing it. When you mix that up, it looks exactly and tastes exactly the same as when you made it. And then recon you could reconstitute this stuff. It has a unbelievable shelf life. And so you can, eat it 10 years down the road, and it'll be it tastes the same as the day you made it. It's Great. It's amazing. Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:55:21
I I wanna circle back to Expo West because expo's on my mind because it's happening in, you know, less than 2 months. Tim, I don't know if that was your first time ever attending, but I wanna say it had to be one of your first times exhibiting. Y'all were in the fresh ideas tent. What was that experience like as this farmer processor brand combo? Like, I'm I'm just super curious. What was that like?

Tim Cornie - 00:55:40
You know, it it was a great experience. And you know what I love about Expo West is that you meet such really neat people. I I you know, it's just such a diversity, and you're just trying to share what you have to everybody. But it's also extremely it's also eye opening because there is so many vendors there that are pushing their product. Like, man,

Anthony Corsaro - 00:55:58
it's You realize why it's so hard and why you're getting squeezed so bad.

Tim Cornie - 00:56:02
Well, it's yeah. Because there's so many people out there with the product trying to move it. And, Yeah. It's almost overwhelming the amount of vendors that are there that have a lot of good products too.

Kyle Krull - 00:56:14
Was that your 1st year last year?

Tim Cornie - 00:56:16
I I've I've walked the show 2 years ago, and then last year's first time I was in Fresh Ideas. And we popped some popcorn, and that's how I met you boys. And, and then we I think we went to that garden event together and met talked some more there.

Kyle Krull - 00:56:30
One. Yeah. The analogy center. Mhmm.

Tim Cornie - 00:56:32
Yeah. And, you know, and I and I met Lily with, little Buck's Crackers. Yeah. There. And so I grow buckwheat, and it goes into her crackers. Yeah. And, and so she's very high conscious, a really amazing human being. So Little Bucks Crackers is a good brand to support.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:56:50
Yeah. We love we love Emily Low Bucks. Great brand. She's been on the pod. Big big fans. They're doing so much stuff. She is cool. Yeah. Yeah. I wanna circle back to some of the ag tech conversation, Tim, and I'm curious for you to talk about this. There's there's always this constant debate, conventional regen, organic regen, whatever. Like, we, you know, we try to not pick sides on that one. We try to just listen to both and and see who's, you know, telling the truth or not. We know on the organic side, tillage is is the issue. Right?

Anthony Corsaro - 00:57:12
Because you don't have the chemicals to spray, so you usually have to till for weed control. I heard you mention when you talked about the tech on the podcast so far, weed management and also plant disease management. Are those the 2 biggest things that you see these technology innovations really helping with? And would you add anything to that list that you really think are, like, game changers?

Tim Cornie - 00:57:39
One of the biggest battles we have with organic farming is weeds. I don't have an insect problem because I don't because I don't spray or do anything, I don't use anything. I just let the sheep do the grazing and their recycling. And and then we let mother nature, and then you've got cover crop that are breaking down and making that soil healthier. And mice my, soil test looks really, really, really good. And so the the weeds is the battle. And because of the way we've had to practice, you know, do the farming practices is that you have to have a certain amount of tillage to cultivate, take those little weeds out.

Tim Cornie - 00:58:10
You know, we got a a zapper elect it electrocutes weeds. So when it comes over the top of your bean crop, if something's taller than the bean crop, it touches it, it grounds it out, it it it shocks that weed and kills it. So you have to have this expensive tools. Mhmm. But the reason I believe in that technology is that it just covers everything. Mhmm.

Tim Cornie - 00:58:33
It just it just solves all the problems once we have that technology available. And, I just, I believe that's the future, and it's gonna be able to make this on a high volume scale.

Anthony Corsaro - 00:58:57
Yeah. I love it.

Kyle Krull - 00:58:58
I can't wait to see that. Now what's it like weird post apocalyptic, like, cyber trucks cruising around farm fields, shooting something like that. It's like the perfect combination of, like, back to your roots and sci fi at the same time. Yeah. I'm excited for this.

Tim Cornie - 00:59:12
Well, I mean I mean, look look. I mean, right now, we farm off of satellites. Think of the technologies already in Right. In the farming right now. They've got tractors, no cabs on it to follow the grain cart. Grain cart follows a combine, and it it does what it does. I mean, the the technology is amazing. We are farming sub inch off of satellites, planting sub inch so we can get really technical. Crazy. The whole thing that that, and that's that's happening right now.

Tim Cornie - 00:59:34
So then you take that cyber truck and you put the that wheelbase at a 44 inch, you know, and it's cruising up and down those rows and then identifying plant diseases. It's identified insects. If you have a a start of a hot spot, then you go out there and put out a bucket of of, you know, lace wings or, you know, ladybugs and start there. And then and then it just gives you that knowledge. We have pivots that we turn on and some people don't know what pivot is, but a pivot is when you run water and it goes in a circle and you can run that amount of water you want on that crop from your phone. You can hit a button and say, I want a half inch, three quarters of an inch, and this is what I'm gonna do and stop here and turn the end gun here or whatever.

Tim Cornie - 01:00:16
Mhmm. Well, they've also got these moisture sensors that you can bury in the ground that communicates with the control panel that says, hey. You need to start irrigating because you need this here, which gives you water saving. The other thing that we haven't discussed that I think is important is the fact that when you go to Ocala La Aquifer and you go into the Midwest, they're starting to finally curtail some water because they have been pumping that ocala La Aquifer down. And when you go down to Lubbock and you go down there to Amarillo, you get to talk to those farmers down there, and they're trying to put some drip systems in and do all these other things because they're trying to conserve water. And I asked them, I go, how much longer do you think you got farming? He goes, I don't know.

Tim Cornie - 01:01:03
If we can get 3 or 4 more years because they're just struggling with that pro water profile Wow. Sinking in the Ocala aquifer. So when you go to this regenerative farming practice and if we can get this technology out there and you start building that organic matter to a 4 or 5, now you've you've substantially you've cut your water production in half because when you give it a shot of water, it's gonna hold for 2 weeks instead of 7 days.

Kyle Krull - 01:01:34
Right? You mentioned this is my favorite stat in all of region. Yeah. He's he's heard me say it so many times. But for every one

Anthony Corsaro - 01:01:39
The NRCS is paying Kyle to plug this stat.

Kyle Krull - 01:01:43
Every as you know, I see, nobody pays me to say anything, unfortunately. I wish they did. But for every 1% increase in soil organic matter, the water holding capacity for a single acre of land increases by 20,000 gallons. You know? Yes. To your point, like, implementing these principles and practices has real world consequences and financial impacts for those who can figure out how to increase the soil organic matter. You know? So

Tim Cornie - 01:02:04
But but also but but also, we got cancer belts. If you look at the map of the cancer belts Yeah. It's from the runoff of Right. Dirt that's movement and water that's moving into that deal. When you build that organic matter up and you have it at that level of of a 3, 4, 5, number 1 is if once this technology hits, you don't have them chemicals that are leaching into the streams or going to the main Missouri River or whatever along those beltways that the cancer, belts are. So you've solved that problem.

Kyle Krull - 01:02:40
Totally. And and and then it it also stops the flow to the ocean, so you reduce the carbon dead zones, bringing those ecosystems back to life. You know? There's just so many cascading benefits.

Tim Cornie - 01:02:49
Well, I mean I mean, they can't harvest oysters in certain areas because of the runoff and the and the chemicals and everything that are in that bay that goes out to the to the gulf. And so, you know, we gotta stop the soil erosion, and this is the only way it's gonna stop the erosion. And you can't get you know, it's building soil. I mean, it's a win win, and it's gonna take that technology and people with the brains to implement it. And, I mean, it's a game changer for for the environment and everything.

Kyle Krull - 01:03:24
You have me all fired up, Tim. It's a win win. Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:03:26
It's a

Kyle Krull - 01:03:26
win for nutrient density, disease prevention. You know, there's too many wins to list, but, yeah, I'm all fired up. I'm feeling good.

Tim Cornie - 01:03:33
Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:03:34
I love it. Tim, I'll take you home with our final question, which I feel like we spent the whole hour covering. But, you know, I'll tee you up with my 3 main takeaways. Get some cyber trucks on farm, make regen convenient, and let's get some of these people paying a little bit more, pennies more, to reward these farmers for for doing the right thing. But other than that, how can we get ReGen Brands to have 50% market share by 2050? That's our final question.

Tim Cornie - 01:04:02
Wow. That I wish that is a really hard question.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:04:09
We're here to support you, brother. Take your time. You

Tim Cornie - 01:04:11
know? Yeah. Well We've only talked about it

Anthony Corsaro - 01:04:13
90 times at this point, so we got some notes for you if you need them.

Tim Cornie - 01:04:16
Yeah. Well, number 1 is once a consumer's aware and awareness makes them and and they you know, if they want it, the farmer will produce it, and they'll and they'll get it to them. And so the bottom line is once that consumer listens to the podcast and said, alright. This is what I'm gonna I'm gonna get. And and then then the retailers say, we need this. Mhmm. And they're gonna say, alright. Here it is. You know?

Tim Cornie - 01:04:36
And, give us some room to to make enough profit where we can make a living. And, you know, that's the answer. It's education.

Kyle Krull - 01:04:53
Mhmm. I agree. That's why we're here. Yeah.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:04:59
We'll keep chipping away at it, brother, as I know you are as well every single day. It's, it's very, very hard, and there's not easy answers as we've all alluded to on this podcast, but all we can do is keep showing up.

Tim Cornie - 01:05:09
I would like to add one more thing. Please. I'm I'm really I'm really excited about Robert Kennedy

Anthony Corsaro - 01:05:16
Yeah.

Tim Cornie - 01:05:16
Being in this position that he's gonna be in. Mhmm. He really sees the problems that we're facing Mhmm. With some of the side effects of certain vaccines and certain, chemicals, and he knows that food system's broken. And I'm excited that he's in that position. And I think that, you know, Joe Sullivan is I think is is doing some advisory work for for him as well, I believe. I'm not sure. And then you've got somebody like Gabe Brown, that common ground documentary and kiss the ground is a great documentary that everybody should watch Mhmm. And and get educated on.

Tim Cornie - 01:05:47
And, I see I think there's gonna be a movement. I think there's gonna be some major changes.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:06:04
Mhmm.

Kyle Krull - 01:06:05
We certainly hope so. We did a whole episode about how the new incoming administration is gonna bring a lot of these, topics to a level of awareness that previously doesn't really feel like we've been there. Right? So we agree. It's a huge opportunity and that what what feels kind of rare, a really good opportunity to to fix some of the biggest issues facing this country. So it's exciting.

Tim Cornie - 01:06:24
Yes.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:06:25
Yeah. We share your optimism, but only time will tell. So when we do the next one in 2, 3, or 4 years, we'll be able to grade we'll be able to grade their efforts and see if they really, walk the talk that they put out there.

Tim Cornie - 01:06:36
Yes. And and I think I think I think these guys are legitimately gonna back gonna back it up. I really do. I have faith in these guys. You know, there's always bullshit and politics, but Yeah. These guys are are the real deal.

Kyle Krull - 01:06:48
Awesome. You're right. Anybody who wants to buy Barleymax or regenerative organic popcorn, go to 1,000 Springs Mill, and that's 100 springsmill.com. Yeah. And check it out. You know? Buy some buy some popcorn.

Tim Cornie - 01:07:02
Well, thank you, gentlemen.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:07:04
Thank you, Tim. Appreciate it, man. For transcripts, show notes, and more information on this episode, check out our website regen-brands.com. That is regen-brands.com. You can also check out our YouTube channel, ReGen Brands, for all of our episodes with both video and audio. The best way to support our work is to give us a 5 star rating on your favorite podcast platform and subscribe to future episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube. You can also subscribe to our newsletter, the ReGen Brands Weekly, and follow our ReGen Brands LinkedIn page to stay in the know of all the latest news, insights, and perspectives from the world of regenerative CPG. Thanks so much for tuning in to the ReGen Brands Podcast.

Anthony Corsaro - 01:07:44
We hope you learned something new in this episode, and it empowers you to use your voice, your time, your talent, and your dollars to help us build a better and more regenerative food system. Love you guys.