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People will say they want this or that long term for food, like a good food system.

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Well, you have to put your money where your mouth is or else that's not going to happen

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because the powers that be, it's very corrupt.

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All of the institutions, USDA, it's very corrupt.

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And it's going to take a long time to essentially course correct.

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So what can we do as we the people in the short term?

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Well, you got to support directly.

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We just need to go back to having relationships with the farmers, essentially.

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That's what it always comes down to.

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Hello, everyone.

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Thank you for coming by for another episode of the Ben Warbin podcast.

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I appreciate you joining us today.

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We have a very special guest.

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His name is Ryan Griggs.

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He is the founder of Regennaissance, which I got my favorite shorts on for this one.

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Oh, heck yeah.

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Let's go.

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I got these last time.

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These have been my favorites when I've been traveling, dude.

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I just throw them on and I feel like I can swim in them.

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I can spend my days in them.

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They're super comfortable.

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So Regennaissance is an awesome clothing company.

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You're also going around doing stuff with farms and ranch.

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So can't wait to hear more about that and get into it.

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Ryan, thanks for coming, dude.

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Thank you for having me.

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So as I was mentioning earlier, we love a good story here.

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And you have a very crazy story when it comes to health and wellness and how the current system just is not serving people very well and how we need to make a lot of changes.

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So could you give us your backstory?

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Please don't try to summarize it too much because I love the ranting detail you go into.

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For sure.

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Okay.

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So it was interesting because, I mean, it hit like a train wreck.

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But then looking back, my life was the boiling pot of water with the frog analogy and just slowly but surely just was culminating in the background.

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So I moved down to Austin, Texas in 2018.

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and June. So it's pretty much going on. What is that? Seven, eight years ago. And pretty much

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right in the fall of that year, I started noticing things were kind of off with my mom.

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And she was the type of person to where she texted me and called me pretty much every single day,

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at least text. She was always heavily involved, which was a good thing. I'm not saying that's a

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bad thing. But I started noticing just like sentences and just things just were slowly off,

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didn't make sense to her. And then I went back home for a wedding. And I think it was around

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November of 2018, back to my hometown in Indiana, for one of my brother's best friend's weddings.

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And I remember I was in the bonus room. And she was just sitting there by herself just in her

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underwear. And I've never, it kind of threw me off because that's not something she does.

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And she was really confused, like where what I'm trying to remember because I remember like I

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walked in and she like looked at me so confused like trying to figure out where she was I'm

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I mean that really threw me back because I'm only 23 at the time just moved to Austin and all of a

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sudden my mom's health is already getting pretty bad but that was kind of in the background you

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know did the wedding went back home or went back to Austin and then 2019 rolls around and I really

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started noticing that a lot of her sentences made no sense whatsoever and like slurring words

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whenever we would talk, really bad memory. And then I was really starting to think that she

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actually had dementia. And so I would talk to her friends and my family and a lot of other people

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started noticing things too. So I actually had a bunch of people write down whatever they had in

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this Google Doc. And I'll never forget the day I called my mom to tell her to get tested for

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dementia, which obviously that sucked. Because I remember right after that call ended, I was just

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bawling my eyes out thinking that I literally finally, you know, I'm free from, or not free,

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I'm finally on the next phase of life after college and whatnot, to moving down on my own

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and all that. And then all of a sudden, my mom's health. And so that was really messing with me.

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But then at the start of the pandemic, fast forwarding a little bit, because my mom's

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health still getting bad. Literally right as the pandemic started, I get news that my brother

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has stage three colon cancer. And that hit me like a ton of bricks too, because my anxiety

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immediately took me to the day of his funeral. And unfortunately that ended up happening.

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But I'm just reflecting back too, because I had a fairly straightforward life.

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I mean, I have a small family. Everyone on my dad's side passed away before I was born,

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but had a good childhood, went to college, went to grad school, moved down to Austin,

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got a job at IBM. So things were good and I had a good future ahead, but then

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yeah, nothing like this had ever happened to me. And so as the pandemic was going on,

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I was destroyed. I had no way of handling any of this well at all.

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and I remember this was September of 2020 we're told that his cancer is in remission which is

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great and all so I went back home my mom got a cookie cake and you know had balloons and we were

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all celebrating and my brother he was smart looking back he didn't really want to celebrate

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it was more so because my mom because he was just thinking that you know it's not technically over

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which was crazy because it was only two months later that we were told not only is this cancer

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back, but stage four. So I find that out in December of 2020. And this was now at the height

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of the pandemic. And I also remember he had to have surgery in Indianapolis on Christmas day or

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Christmas Eve, one of those two days. And because of the stupid COVID rules,

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he was only allowed one visitor the whole entire day for one hour. And so I think about that a lot

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too. I know with Bitcoin and everything, with freedom and sovereignty, I think about that day

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a lot because I remember texting my brother. And just the fact that I don't want to go on a side

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tangent with that because that was just, I tend to forget some of those things a lot, but whenever

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I bring it up, it does get pretty infuriating. Whenever you're somebody like my brother who

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was totally at stage three colon cancer, then it was in remission. And not only is it back,

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but stage four. And on Christmas day, probably the number one holiday you want to be with family,

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he's told he has to spend it pretty much alone.

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And so I went back home for the first six months of 2021 to be his caretaker.

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And then it's really hard to put into words. And this is why I do everything because it's one of

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those things that we all know it sucks but whenever you see it firsthand it's a I can explain

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everything that I went through and it will have you in tears but you still have no idea like what

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it truly felt like I mean um so yeah I realized cancer and all of that was

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I guess how I'll summarize it whenever I first moved back to go to my hometown my brother had

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apartment about five minutes from my parents' place because my parents had the same house that

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we grew up in. And that's where my brother ended up going back. And whenever I went back, the initial

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plan was I would be in my brother's apartment and I would go over to my parents' place and help him

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out. That lasted for a whole day because I realized that I need to be in the same room with him

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because cancer and all that stuff isn't just like a nine to five. It is 24 seven. It does not stop.

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it does not matter um so yeah for those six months i watched all of that unfold between

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that and the chemo treatments and all the opioids that he had to take for all the pain

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was horrific to say the least he spent the last two and a half months of that six months in the

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hospital and so i really got to see what the hospital environment was like and how awful that

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is for everybody involved, not just the patients and their families. It's horrific for the nurses.

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I remember, so my brother spent the first week of that in the ICU, and then he transitioned to

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a floor below for another week before going to a long-term hospital

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to pretty much finish out the rest of his life. But I remember it was about 12 midnight rolled

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around. And I didn't realize that he was getting delirious because I didn't know what that was like

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ever experiencing something like that to where he was literally losing his mind.

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He thought people were coming after him. He thought I was pushing away. He had me kept

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getting a nurse to come help and help. And she was severely overworked, understaffed. There's

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beeping sounds everywhere around the hospital because they needed help. And this nurse was

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just such an angel about everything because I felt terrible having to get her every 10 seconds

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because I had no clue what was going on. I was on probably 36 hours of no sleep either. And

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it's terrifying knowing the worst feeling through all that was the helpless aspect

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of I just had to watch him suffer. It was, he essentially was tortured for six months

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physically every single day.

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Nauseous and pain from the moment he wake up

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to the moment he goes to sleep,

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even if he rarely ever slept.

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And for me, it was psychological torture

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the whole six months to watch all that unfold.

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He unfortunately passed three days

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before his 33rd birthday

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to where my mother and me

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were sitting on his bedside in hospice

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and watched all of that.

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And I remember after he passed,

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I had no idea how I was so destroyed and so

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going with the motions, I guess.

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It felt like the next six months of 2021

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just felt like an out-of-body experience the whole time.

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I remember I came back to Austin,

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went to a friend's birthday at like a cookout outside,

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and I just sat there and it felt like a movie scene

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to where when you're just sitting there

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and they're like kind of fast forwarding through it all and it's just blurs around him and people

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are just like interacting if you know what I'm talking about on that that's exactly how it felt

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to where I just kind of sat there and existed but I was just so drained destroyed and just

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numb to everything and so in the next six months of that I quit IBM I actually withdrew my 401k

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because I realized that I was I was pretty fed up with I guess the whole tech world but thinking

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that I could do something on my own because I've always had this deep down desire to do that. I've

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just lacked the confidence. And so after going through all that, really changed a lot for that.

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This is actually where Twitter came into play and genuinely saved my life. Because I remember

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I was taking care of my brother. He was using Twitter, which I found hilarious because he's

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always been anti media but he actually how I got into Bitcoin And so he was part of all the Bitcoin community and I started really seeing the utility of all of that And so slowly but surely I was learning and unlearning everything because I was also vegan at the time

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I was very convicted in my beliefs with all that.

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I quickly switched to eating meat again.

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And then I started learning about pretty much everything the Maha stands for now.

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I was learning in 2021.

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And so I had all this going in the background, still figuring out my life.

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And then in 2022, I heard about regenerative agriculture on Twitter.

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And I somehow found my way into like that and like homesteading.

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And that was my light bulb moment of, holy shit, I've been so disconnected from my food.

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I'm from Southern Indiana, surrounded by cornfields.

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But I used to, you know, I had a very ignorant viewpoint of all of that.

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And arrogant too, just thinking I was above all of that.

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And so I really started learning as much as I could on all agriculture.

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I had this huge road trip planned in 2022.

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Originally was just to travel around America because that was the one thing me and my brother talked about to keep the hope alive.

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But obviously we didn't get to travel.

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But then after, you know, learning about this, I kind of transformed this trip to where I started visiting some ranches.

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And then by the end of this trip was September of 2022.

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to, I used WOOFing, which is WWOOF, an acronym that stands for Worldwide Opportunities on

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Organic Farms.

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And that is essentially like an Airbnb-styled layout to where on the site, it's a global

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organization to where people that have farms or ranches, you get housing and food in exchange

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for your labor.

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And so I was able to find this awesome property in Pennsylvania.

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I talked to the farm owner.

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He had some similar experiences in life to where he lost a parent and a sibling fairly quick and early on.

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And so I took the leap of faith and went there.

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And that was just so incredible.

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That was the first time I experienced rural America.

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The surrounding town was about 2,500 population, surrounded by the Amish and beautiful Appalachian hills.

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amazing farm that had six or seven different types of animals more produce that i've ever seen in my

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life some different kinds of squash i've never seen in my life if you're a listener you should

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look up blue hubbards because it's essentially just like a giant blue dinosaur egg but an

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awesome squash but yeah so as i was working on that farm i shared my story on twitter

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and my plans to really just share,

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hey, I'm this normie dude

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who now is just getting into farming

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because I had this plan

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of I was just going to travel to farms,

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share out what I'm, you know,

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teach or share out what I'm doing

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and learning and reading and whatnot.

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And that post went viral overnight

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to where I remember John Valis reached out

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and I was just like, what the heck?

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Because I had been a huge follower of his

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and that made me realize too that

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through the pandemic and everything and just health and more around America, that woke up a

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lot of people. And so whenever I made that post, I realized that, oh, okay, so many other people

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are realizing they're so disconnected from their food too. And I could really help bridge this gap

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because I know Bitcoin's about taking out the middleman, but for agriculture, we desperately

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need a middleman because only 1% is in agriculture and 99% is not. And on top of that, most have

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never even spoken to a farmer, yet alone been on a farm. And so I had this huge plan again to where

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I'm traveling. I was going to buy a GoPro. I was going to do Substack. But then through all this,

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my health was still getting really bad. I couldn't figure out what was going on. Healthcare was

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surprise, surprise, doing not a whole lot. In fact, they're making a lot of things worse,

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misdiagnosing me. This is actually where I went to Twitter and hired independent help to where I

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finally discovered at Hashimoto's a severe form of hypothyroidism, which explained why I never had

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energy or really anything. But on top of that, my mom's health was still getting really bad.

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That was just as hard as seeing my brother was seeing her because she was always very unhealthy

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my whole life. But this is also why I try to tell people that you might be okay health-wise and

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you know, can manage being in the shape you are for 30 years.

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But in the blink of an eye, it could change overnight.

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And that's essentially what happened to my mom.

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And so I actually had to leave this farm early.

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And now I'm fast forwarding to 2023.

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I had this ranch in Montana lined up in February 1st.

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So I had pretty much like a month and a half to get back to my health.

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And because I finally figured that out and had this huge plan for all of that.

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one week before I was starting in Montana, I was in Boise, Idaho, just to explore that area and then

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get ready for this trip. I had the worst health scare of my life to where I was shitting blood

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about 90 times over three days. I had the worst abdominal pains in my life. I remember I was in

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this Airbnb loft by myself, trying not to panic, obviously, because I remember I was just trying

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to get comfortable in my bed. And it was a crazy deja vu moment of with my brother because he was

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doing a lot of those same things to get comfortable. So in my head, I'm thinking, is this colon cancer?

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I just did a colonoscopy the year before. But everything came back clear. But my health still

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continued to get worse. So I just didn't know what was going on there. And I remember this was a

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Friday night. And I realized my only two options are urgent care and ER. Obviously, this is way

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too serious for urgent care. So I told myself the next morning, I'm going to go and drive to the ER.

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And so the next morning rolls around. This was around like, I don't know, 6.30, 7, 8 a.m.

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I had to head straight to the bathroom. As I'm sitting on the toilet, I still had to sleep with

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headphones for rain sounds because my body has just been in default fight or flight mode for so long.

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And I remember I'm sitting there. I started profusely sweating and getting nauseous thinking

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that I'm going to throw up here. But then the rain sounds started getting dim and my eyes were

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closing and I'm realizing I'm passing out here. And it was happening so fast. But I remember

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slowly in my head thinking if I pass out here, I could die because I had no idea why that was

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happening. I'm by myself. I don't check on my Airbnb until the next day. And so I hobbled in

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the bed and I learned that day that you could talk yourself out and not passing out because

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essentially I was just saying stuff to my head and I took deep breaths. Somehow that worked to

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where, you know, my eyes started opening again, my hearing came back and I immediately grabbed

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some stuff and just drove straight to the ER. By then it was like 7.30. I remember still dark

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outside sleeting. And since it was a Saturday, no one was outside. So I pretty much ran every red

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light just to get there. They did a bunch of tests. Instead, I just had a really inflamed colon

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and I needed to go back to Austin to do another colonoscopy and endoscopy. And mind you, I already

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did two previously than the previous year um just through everything and i'm fortunately was fine

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but obviously still want to get tests so i immediately came back to austin and postponed

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the bison trip because then also after the bison trip i had farms lined up in italy for the rest

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of the year and so i had this huge plane to travel the world essentially before ending back up in the

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states so i came back to austin did tests no polyps or cancer they said i might have had

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ulcerative colitis, but they couldn't even, they never gave me an official diagnosis. I still to

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this day, I have no idea. So I had this mindset that I'm going to stay in Austin for the spring,

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essentially, and recover because I had lost probably 10, 15 pounds in that five days. I was

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just destroyed. And as I was recovering, because one thing I try to tell listeners to through

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everything, I always say to go visit a farm. But the first thing I say is to go take walks outside

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because after my brother died that's the very first thing I did to where I mean probably the

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first two months after my brother died I wasn't doing anything but reading Twitter walking outside

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and playing video games and smoking at night like I was not doing a whole lot but at the same time

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I was rebuilding a foundation because then by the time fast refast forwarding back to where I was at

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after this health scare was I would make sure during the day I would take walks and be out in

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the sun. I would go to parks and sit in the grass and read. And that was huge because one day I was

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just walking out the park and all of a sudden I just got hit in the head with the idea for

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Reginissance to where I realized that there's no cool looking apparel at all related to agriculture

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because this was again in early 2023. And when you would think of some of that style, you'd probably

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think of like the cabana deer hunting game, like art style. Everything was just so outdated.

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And so I realized that I could make some cool looking apparel that's educational focused.

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And then I remember because I had the idea before Regenissance.

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But the funny thing was a year before this with my friend Case, we were actually going to do a podcast together called the Regenissance podcast.

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Because he was into like the whole holistic health space.

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And I was just really focused on the regenerative agriculture, just agriculture piece.

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And we're going to combine all that.

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And so I realized that word works so well for what I'm trying to do with all of this, because it combines regenerative and renaissance and regenerative.

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So regenerative in the sense of our health, because where it stands in America, a lot of stuff we do destroys our health.

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But I believe that we are made in God's image and that we're much more resilient than we give ourself credit.

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And I knew with like the apparel side that, yeah, that I could really make some cool looking apparel.

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That's really educational focus because we are tribal by nature.

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So I figured that, you know, just wearing kind of like what Nike did with with athletic wear and whatnot.

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They just emboldened. Just do it when you wear it.

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I wanted to get to the where if you were wearing stuff with Regina Sons, you're thinking about where your food comes from and wanting to support locally.

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And so through all of that, I had no intentions of starting that business.

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It just kind of came to be.

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And I sent a launch date for May 28th, which was a Sunday Memorial Day weekend in 2023.

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And again, my mom's health is still getting worse.

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I remember that Mother's Day hit that year.

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And I realized it was her last year on earth.

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And looking back, Mother's Day was essentially my funeral with her.

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because I realized with my brother, I had just shoved everything down with my mom,

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because I'm still trying to, you know, live with everything I went through with my brother,

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and the fact that he's gone. And so, yeah, Mother's Day was far, far worse than the actual

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day of my mom's funeral. But I just did everything I could to ensure that I would launch on May 28.

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And so Memorial Day weekend rolls around. And I remember that Friday, my mom texted me for my

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website which was awesome but strange because as she was declining she stopped

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reaching out and so I was the one reaching out every single day and I realized why because then you know Sunday rolls around I had an awesome launch It actually yeah was so far better than I could have ever had hope for

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And then four hours later, I actually get a call that she passed away. And so instead of tweeting

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out that, Hey, I thank you for the sport. Your orders are being sent out. It's Hey, thank you

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for the support. Your orders are going to be delayed because I'm having to go to my mom's

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funeral. And so through all of that, it made me realize though, it's exactly where I needed to be

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with all this. Because since then, I'm just going to fast forward a lot. I've actually flipped it

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on its head to where it's a media company that has apparel. Because I have this podcast, and

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everything has always been educational focused to where, because it's education, but also raising

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awareness. And I try to emphasize on that too, because it's the fact that with our food system

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in agriculture, most aren't aware of how we've gotten here and what's going on.

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And the powers that be know that.

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And that's how they're able to get away with so much and able to essentially do the most

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corrupt and moral things to these farmers and ranchers, like steal their land, put them

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in jail, steal their land, all kinds of examples.

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And that's because that most people aren't aware of.

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And that's why I love Bitcoin and that world too, because there's so much overlap between

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our food system and that. And I'm starting to see more and more of that moving forward. So it's just

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been, it's been obviously quite the journey. But I also have, despite everything, I'm finally over

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able to continue living life because obviously that last year was hell. I mean, to put a point

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blank period on all of that, but now just so much momentum going with everything with the whole

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Maha space. And why I'm so such an advocate for farmers and ranchers and saying that is because

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these people are so incredible, salt of the earth people that genuinely blow me away because

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again, the more stories I hear and share, it's just, they've gone through so much

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that people aren't aware of and they just want to provide good food for themselves,

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their families, their communities. And yeah, I'll just end it at that because I know I was like a 30

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minute story. But yeah. That's amazing, dude. And I just love how you had a very close encounter

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with the whole health system from the food side to the health side to the healthcare side,

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and how it just needs to be fixed.

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So I would love to hear some details

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on how exactly you made that connection of,

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this is the problem that I saw

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and this is how this company is going to fix it.

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What are the exact solutions that you are bringing to this

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or helping bring to others through Regennaissance?

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So I fully believe,

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and I'm going to start talking about this a lot,

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I fully believe all of humanity's problems,

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like the root of it of all humaneness problems is our disconnection from our food.

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And what I mean by that is for all of our existence, we've always been living in conjunction

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with nature and our food.

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We've always, I mean, for the most part, we were hunting for it.

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So we had to, and then agriculture came along and you were essentially our homesteaders

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to where you always had a pig, you had some chickens, you grew some produce, and then

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you'd trade and barter with your neighbors.

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Now, for the first time in humaneness history, most people go their whole entire lives

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without experiencing any of that and buy everything from a grocery store. And so that over time

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has just drastically changed our culture to where we expect to have food year round, same always.

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We expect it to be as efficient, fast as possible. And I'll give an example because this is where

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we're at with our food system to where on Twitter about a month ago, I saw someone post that she

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bought a potato to grow and she fully expected, I'm not joking. She fully expected to have the

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potato next day. And this post had 330,000 likes. And I read all the comments, pretty much

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experiencing similar things to where I didn't know I had to wait two years for blueberries to grow.

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And I'm thinking like, it's kind of just sad. That's just where we're at. But then thinking

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like where our heads at, we think we expect to have everything immediately with weight loss,

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We now have Ozempic and all these other things.

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You can't cheat the system, though, because all of those have dire consequences.

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And if you can look up the consequences of Ozempic, it's really bad.

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And so this is, again, going back to Bitcoin, it forces you to think long term.

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And so we have to think long term about all this again with our food, because also how

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the system's in place with actual farming and ranching, with all the monocropping, with

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the corn, soy, and wheat subsidies, our system's been in place to make it hyper-efficient and

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maximize yields. That's all it's been cared for. And again, that's completely changed our culture

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and how we view everything. And so I'm trying to get people to get outside and go to a farm or ranch

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because then it just really gets the wheels spinning in your head. And it really starts

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thinking about all the problems that are in modern day society, all the different modern

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toxins and toxicities, spending time indoors, constantly watching TV and never being outside.

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I don't, to me, just everything always goes back to the fact that we've been disconnected

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from our food our whole lives.

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And so that's why above all else, the mission for Regenestance is to go visit a farm or

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ranch because we've lost our community too.

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people talk about all the time of that third place we've lost you know you have your home base you

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have your school or work and then you used to be that third spot and that really doesn't exist

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anymore to me farming and ranching could be a great option to take your kids out on a weekend

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because again once you see the connection of all of the work the farmer and rancher does

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to get food to your plate. It's hard to put into words. That's why I say that stuff because I

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vividly will always remember the first time I visited a ranch in Colorado.

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I actually went to visit on a processing day. I got to help out processing chickens. I got to see

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the beautiful pastures that the chickens were raised on. I got to see all the employees,

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how they actually cared. No vegans, they didn't abuse them or anything. They gave them great life.

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And in fact, the owner had this interesting ceremony that he gave to the chickens before,

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you know, taking their life on the last day.

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I got a free bird in exchange for helping out.

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And so I went to a friend's place afterwards and we grilled that.

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I remember seeing their reactions because, again, this stuff you don't get in grocery

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stores.

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And so I remember just thinking about that day, the fact that we all had an awesome meal

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together that was, to me, literally life changing.

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thinking how the fact that we've pretty much gone so far from all that.

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And so that's why Regenascence is essentially,

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I'm just tossing so much media at you about the actual farming and ranching,

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but also why you should give a damn and actually support directly and locally.

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Because if we want to have the changes we want long-term,

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because this is another thing too,

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people will say they want this or that long-term for food.

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like a good food system, well, you have to put your money where your mouth is or else that's

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not going to happen because the powers that be, it's very corrupt. All of the institutions, USDA,

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it's very corrupt and it's going to take a long time to essentially course correct.

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So what can we do as we the people in the short term? Well, you got to support directly and know

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your farmers and ranchers because they are pretty much all the industries are captured.

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they're really going heavy after the ranching and the beef industry but the people again don't it's

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hard to see whenever you you go into grocery stores and there's always food what happens

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whenever the pandemic happened everyone freaked out and so i don't want that to be the wake-up

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call for most people yeah there's steps to the connection to the food because i'm here back in

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my hometown on Whidbey Island, Washington. And shout out to Three Sisters Farm. That's where I

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get my meat every time I come back and visit and they do a great job. But I haven't actually walked

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on a farm myself. I bet they have a way you can do that. And I need to so you can actually see us

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get closer because I go to that little community shop that they have and it's cool to talk to them

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and everything. But I feel like just seeing it being done and doing it yourself, like you said,

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is a great next step so no that's a great that's a great point too because that to me is just as

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important as actually what you're what you're doing is you're still directly supporting um but

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what's tough is you still don't see the connection overall uh because it i really can't put into

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words whenever you see just like the actual farm after knowing the farmer or rancher and actually

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trying the food, it just, it closes the loop essentially. Um, cause again, it's great to

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support. And I know people will buy say beef directly from a rancher, but it's from another

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state. And that's still great. Like I'm not saying that that's bad, but you still don't see the

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connection fully. And to me, that still does not address the root cause. And you're still kind of

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missing the whole point to me. Um, it's kind of like if you're a believer in God and still don't

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ever go to church in a way and one of the things you mentioned there which i think is a great answer

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to my next question i was going to ask for people that don't live in a place where there's lots of

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farms around if they're in i think people call it a food desert or someplace where it's just tough to

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get good quality food i was going to say what should those people do and and you just went on

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a trip to go around and see them all.

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And the woofing is quite interesting that the Airbnb for farms and ranches,

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where can people go to learn more about that?

408
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Cause I kind of want to learn more about it too. It sounds super cool.

409
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Yeah. So that is just, it's just woof.org, I believe.

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I mean, all you have to do is just type in WWOF and Google and should be the

411
00:33:24,599 --> 00:33:29,679
first one. But in, in terms of for like the food deserts and whatnot.

412
00:33:29,679 --> 00:33:36,199
So I know there's quite a few maps to where you could look up farmers and ranchers.

413
00:33:36,919 --> 00:33:37,999
So there's Eat Wild.

414
00:33:39,199 --> 00:33:41,579
There's Regenerative Farmers of America.

415
00:33:42,479 --> 00:33:44,579
There's BeefMaps.com.

416
00:33:46,119 --> 00:33:47,619
FromTheFarm.org.

417
00:33:48,019 --> 00:33:52,619
If you like raw milk and raw dairy, there's GetRawMilk.com, I believe.

418
00:33:53,299 --> 00:33:56,639
And then Weston A. Price Foundation has a raw milk map.

419
00:33:56,639 --> 00:34:03,679
but if not I mean those maps too will also have farms and ranches to where you could just buy it

420
00:34:03,679 --> 00:34:18,948
to where it shipped directly to your door those might be costly but that also why I like to say that just buy what you can afford and what accessible to you Because that another thing that I try to not speak in fully absolutes to where

421
00:34:18,948 --> 00:34:25,828
if you're not buying grass fed, regenerative, and all that, that is bad. Because there's still,

422
00:34:26,268 --> 00:34:30,488
it's good, better than best, essentially. Because if you're not buying McDonald's,

423
00:34:30,488 --> 00:34:34,528
but you're still buying like the cheapest eggs, that's a great first step. Even though

424
00:34:34,528 --> 00:34:40,348
your local pasture-raised eggs is infinitely better than the cheapest eggs, but still infinitely

425
00:34:40,348 --> 00:34:45,548
better than going to McDonald's. So again, that's going back to the disconnection from our food and

426
00:34:45,548 --> 00:34:50,908
the fact that there's just so much that people have to learn and think about.

427
00:34:53,648 --> 00:34:58,788
And then I'll just give another example too of just how we view just economics of food.

428
00:35:00,088 --> 00:35:04,168
And then going back to the subsidies, it's just really jacked up how we view food because then

429
00:35:04,168 --> 00:35:10,108
we've been so grown accustomed to cheap, cheap garbage food, essentially, like all the chips and

430
00:35:10,108 --> 00:35:16,008
processed foods, very cheap, very, very cheap. That's, I guess, the, the upside of how we've

431
00:35:16,008 --> 00:35:20,988
transformed our food system is the fact that we've been able to feed our population and a lot of the

432
00:35:20,988 --> 00:35:28,508
world so cheaply, but it's not good quality stuff overall. And that's why you see grass fed beef in

433
00:35:28,508 --> 00:35:35,468
stores at $12 a pound or something like that, or raw milk an hour away is like $15 a gallon.

434
00:35:36,168 --> 00:35:40,988
But then you'll see folks that have no issues going to the gas station paying $3.50 for a Red

435
00:35:40,988 --> 00:35:46,008
Bull. And if you equate that out to a gallon, that's about $45. And so that's two and a half

436
00:35:46,008 --> 00:35:51,188
times more than a gallon of raw milk, but people will just think that a farmer is taking advantage

437
00:35:51,188 --> 00:35:57,388
of them for that, but they don't realize why the cost of raw milk is like that. And so there's just

438
00:35:57,388 --> 00:36:03,548
so many intricacies like that to where there's this massive amount of education. We just need

439
00:36:03,548 --> 00:36:06,068
to go back to having relationships with the farmers, essentially. That's what it always

440
00:36:06,068 --> 00:36:11,048
comes down to. It's having these conversations. And it's interesting too, because since we're so

441
00:36:11,048 --> 00:36:14,848
disconnected and haven't spoken to a farmer rancher, it's very intimidating to make that

442
00:36:14,848 --> 00:36:20,088
leap to go to essentially zero to one. And so that's also what I'm trying to help out with

443
00:36:20,088 --> 00:36:25,188
reginaissance is making it as frictionless as possible on every way. Because if we're trying

444
00:36:25,188 --> 00:36:30,528
to have a paradigm shift, you have to really help nudge folks the right direction or else

445
00:36:30,528 --> 00:36:31,848
they're never going to change.

446
00:36:32,348 --> 00:36:34,468
And that's also why I go story focused.

447
00:36:34,928 --> 00:36:39,988
If I want to get folks to actually care about this stuff in a world where technology is

448
00:36:39,988 --> 00:36:46,428
throwing TikTok reels and everything to where our attention spans are so small now, you have

449
00:36:46,428 --> 00:36:48,808
to get creative with that, essentially.

450
00:36:50,568 --> 00:36:55,168
I will say something that's helped my attention span is eating more meat for anyone.

451
00:36:55,188 --> 00:36:57,568
I'm looking for a way to expand your brain.

452
00:36:57,668 --> 00:37:01,488
Like as soon as I did the carnivore diet, that completely changed for me.

453
00:37:02,068 --> 00:37:02,468
Yeah.

454
00:37:03,088 --> 00:37:03,788
It's crazy.

455
00:37:03,928 --> 00:37:11,168
And it's cool how those things will fit together, how people start eating more meat, and then they start getting more curious and feel better, and they want to consume more content.

456
00:37:11,168 --> 00:37:15,888
And then they go find things like hopefully my podcast or your content that you have as well.

457
00:37:15,948 --> 00:37:16,908
You have a podcast too.

458
00:37:17,128 --> 00:37:18,628
And just going into all this stuff.

459
00:37:18,628 --> 00:37:29,228
It's good to leave a path for people to walk on as they start to learn about this because they're going to be hungry physically and figuratively for more.

460
00:37:30,228 --> 00:37:30,288
Yeah.

461
00:37:30,408 --> 00:37:30,928
Super exciting.

462
00:37:31,068 --> 00:37:41,368
It's great to see just more podcasts popping up specifically about the farming side because I feel like that's been a topic that's sort of popping into the big podcast every once in a while.

463
00:37:41,368 --> 00:37:46,468
I know Joe Rogan had Joel Salatin on and a ton of people got involved in this.

464
00:37:46,468 --> 00:37:48,828
and I was thankful to have Joel Salton as well.

465
00:37:48,928 --> 00:37:52,408
So there are certain guests that break into the big platforms,

466
00:37:52,728 --> 00:37:56,908
but having dedicated podcasts like yours about that is super important too

467
00:37:56,908 --> 00:38:01,668
because there's so many stories to tell just on the ground-level farming side.

468
00:38:01,848 --> 00:38:06,888
And I'd be curious to hear your take on just how you see the state

469
00:38:06,888 --> 00:38:09,028
of farming and ranching in the world right now.

470
00:38:09,028 --> 00:38:13,968
Do you think we're in like a code red, red alert mode

471
00:38:13,968 --> 00:38:16,388
where the government is just cracking down on everything?

472
00:38:16,468 --> 00:38:19,568
and we need to go to their aid immediately?

473
00:38:20,048 --> 00:38:21,908
Or are things turning around?

474
00:38:22,008 --> 00:38:23,028
Is the tyranny side?

475
00:38:23,128 --> 00:38:24,588
Because we always hear about these farms

476
00:38:24,588 --> 00:38:26,068
getting shut down by the feds.

477
00:38:26,168 --> 00:38:27,328
What do you see out there?

478
00:38:28,868 --> 00:38:31,248
I would say I'm very optimistic overall,

479
00:38:31,488 --> 00:38:32,368
especially culturally.

480
00:38:32,908 --> 00:38:33,968
People are really waking up.

481
00:38:34,628 --> 00:38:35,388
But as it stands,

482
00:38:36,128 --> 00:38:38,788
we are in a very bad spot overall.

483
00:38:40,248 --> 00:38:44,748
Because again, every single institution

484
00:38:44,748 --> 00:38:48,748
that's supposed to help out and be with the farmers is captured, every single one.

485
00:38:50,368 --> 00:38:55,608
And then even going back to the USDA, because I've had some ranchers on my podcast talking about this.

486
00:38:56,148 --> 00:39:01,508
How can we, because we the people are starting to really wake up and see these things,

487
00:39:01,788 --> 00:39:03,648
but still the government has a massive stranglehold.

488
00:39:03,648 --> 00:39:07,028
And so it's going up against David and Goliath, essentially.

489
00:39:08,048 --> 00:39:12,448
And we just have to find ways to recapture these institutions.

490
00:39:12,448 --> 00:39:21,368
but then at the same time so like for example our pork and chicken are are very

491
00:39:21,368 --> 00:39:28,928
captured industries so when you think of pork i haven't bought pork or chicken really from a

492
00:39:28,928 --> 00:39:35,108
grocery store and i can't remember i do not trust except pasture bird if you go to sprouts and you

493
00:39:35,108 --> 00:39:38,488
have pasture bird then that's pretty much some of the best chicken you can get from a store

494
00:39:38,488 --> 00:39:41,028
But pork, I would never touch anything.

495
00:39:42,888 --> 00:39:53,868
Horrific industry from that standpoint because Smithfield Foods, which is Chinese, has owned that since I believe 2011, 12 or 13.

496
00:39:53,968 --> 00:39:55,228
It's been a while since they've owned it.

497
00:39:55,948 --> 00:39:57,508
And I've made posts on this.

498
00:39:57,608 --> 00:39:58,388
You can even look up.

499
00:39:58,388 --> 00:40:00,228
They have these pig.

500
00:40:00,988 --> 00:40:08,088
They look like a giant dystopian brick hotel, like 26 stories.

501
00:40:08,488 --> 00:40:10,088
And that's where they keep all their pigs.

502
00:40:10,508 --> 00:40:13,288
And it's just gigantic mega factory, essentially.

503
00:40:14,688 --> 00:40:17,928
And that's pretty much where we've gotten to some of those industries.

504
00:40:18,128 --> 00:40:21,428
It's just heavy mechanized and they're indoors.

505
00:40:21,608 --> 00:40:22,348
They see no sunlight.

506
00:40:22,448 --> 00:40:23,968
They have no natural environments at all.

507
00:40:24,688 --> 00:40:27,208
And they're just cooped up in a concrete jungle.

508
00:40:27,948 --> 00:40:30,028
And then they're fed the nastiest stuff.

509
00:40:31,268 --> 00:40:32,588
And then we eat that.

510
00:40:32,708 --> 00:40:34,508
And so obviously that stuff's just nasty.

511
00:40:34,768 --> 00:40:37,268
Because I've had a pig farmer at my podcast before.

512
00:40:37,268 --> 00:40:41,528
and he talks about how he gets comments all the time from people of,

513
00:40:41,948 --> 00:40:44,728
I can finally eat pork for the first time because it doesn't make me feel like crap.

514
00:40:46,208 --> 00:40:53,828
But then going back to the beef industry, they are attacked a lot.

515
00:40:54,328 --> 00:40:56,248
And I'll give an example of that.

516
00:40:57,468 --> 00:41:04,828
Fortunately, it caught wind on social media and so it ended up to where the whole case got dismissed.

517
00:41:04,828 --> 00:41:13,048
but this ranching family in South Dakota they're the Maud family and last year they've had this

518
00:41:13,048 --> 00:41:19,428
property in their family I think since again the early 1900s it's fourth fifth generation

519
00:41:19,428 --> 00:41:24,788
and all of a sudden they have this anonymous complaint from a hunter because at their fence

520
00:41:24,788 --> 00:41:29,508
line the land next to them is the National Forest Service Street and so they got this random

521
00:41:29,508 --> 00:41:35,288
complaint from an anonymous hunter saying that their fence line is actually part of the National

522
00:41:35,288 --> 00:41:41,048
Forest Service tree, which is a joke because they've done all the paperwork forever and they've

523
00:41:41,048 --> 00:41:45,668
never had any issues, no complaints, nothing. And then all of a sudden they started getting attacked

524
00:41:45,668 --> 00:41:51,988
and within 90 days after that, they had people in tactical gear at their farm or at the ranch

525
00:41:51,988 --> 00:42:01,828
and essentially trying to say that they've had this fence line with the National Forest Service

526
00:42:01,828 --> 00:42:05,188
and then they've been illegal through all this stuff.

527
00:42:05,188 --> 00:42:10,768
And then all of a sudden, the husband and wife were facing up to 10 years in prison,

528
00:42:11,588 --> 00:42:13,368
each $250,000 in fines.

529
00:42:13,788 --> 00:42:15,688
They have two or three children.

530
00:42:16,088 --> 00:42:17,608
I think the oldest is like five.

531
00:42:17,828 --> 00:42:21,128
So very young family, a very great family.

532
00:42:21,128 --> 00:42:27,228
the community loves them they support everybody just all that stuff and that was that caught wind

533
00:42:27,228 --> 00:42:33,628
fortunately online and was shared like crazy because if it wasn't for that um i fully believe

534
00:42:33,628 --> 00:42:37,848
they would be in jail because then at also as time was going on they were put on a gag order

535
00:42:37,848 --> 00:42:42,648
to where they couldn't even talk to one another about any of this they were essentially intimidated

536
00:42:42,648 --> 00:42:50,568
about taking their guns away um and all this but then you look into what was going on in the back

537
00:42:50,568 --> 00:42:55,168
And there's some NGOs connected to the national forestry and all of this.

538
00:42:55,408 --> 00:43:05,008
And so a lot, there's more and more of this happening to where the seemingly good agencies of conservation and whatnot, because it's also happening in California.

539
00:43:05,808 --> 00:43:19,708
I believe actually in Washington too, with the King Ranch family to where they're trying to use like conservation easements and conservation, not conservation easements, just conservation orgs to make these ranching families escape ghosts.

540
00:43:19,708 --> 00:43:20,968
pretty much just to steal their land.

541
00:43:21,128 --> 00:43:23,908
That's what this was trying to happen with the Mallard family.

542
00:43:24,328 --> 00:43:29,708
And fortunately, it made its way to Secretary of Ag, Brooke Rollins, and Donald Trump,

543
00:43:29,928 --> 00:43:31,228
and they dismissed the case.

544
00:43:31,808 --> 00:43:35,888
But that is constantly happening everywhere to where a farmer and rancher is being attacked

545
00:43:35,888 --> 00:43:38,328
for all different reasons with raw dairy.

546
00:43:39,168 --> 00:43:41,488
North Carolina is trying to ban raw milk in its entirety.

547
00:43:43,188 --> 00:43:49,028
And so, again, this is why I'm so educational focused is...

548
00:43:49,708 --> 00:43:53,848
One, people don't even realize how much work it takes to farm and ranch.

549
00:43:54,468 --> 00:43:55,908
You're not just a farm and rancher.

550
00:43:55,988 --> 00:43:56,548
You're a carpenter.

551
00:43:56,868 --> 00:43:57,808
You're a mechanic.

552
00:43:58,068 --> 00:43:58,888
It might be a vet.

553
00:43:59,468 --> 00:44:00,488
You're a father, a husband.

554
00:44:01,208 --> 00:44:02,308
You're so many things.

555
00:44:02,668 --> 00:44:04,628
And so you only have so much time or money.

556
00:44:05,168 --> 00:44:13,288
And this is also why the government knows this, that they don't have the resources that the government and all these other institutions, agencies have or the resources.

557
00:44:13,288 --> 00:44:30,428
And so this is why the people have to really step up and support locally, because then once you have these relationships, if they're in trouble or they have friends and other farmers that need help, this is where the sharing can really help.

558
00:44:30,428 --> 00:44:33,088
because, again, knowledge is power.

559
00:44:33,988 --> 00:44:35,708
I can give so many other examples, too,

560
00:44:35,768 --> 00:44:38,988
to where the government was pretty much overreaching

561
00:44:38,988 --> 00:44:41,068
and it caught wind online,

562
00:44:41,068 --> 00:44:44,648
and once it shared enough to where people backed away, essentially.

563
00:44:46,728 --> 00:44:48,428
Yeah, so I'll leave it at that.

564
00:44:49,808 --> 00:44:50,668
It's crazy.

565
00:44:50,848 --> 00:44:53,348
We just keep seeing these stories pop up,

566
00:44:53,448 --> 00:44:58,308
and as you said, only some of them catch wind on social media

567
00:44:58,308 --> 00:44:59,668
and get all this buzz.

568
00:44:59,668 --> 00:45:05,088
So who knows how many just don't make it there and these people just get crushed and you never hear about it.

569
00:45:05,708 --> 00:45:25,368
But I think it's fair to say that this has been a huge journey for me and lots of other people of learning that these very nicely worded conservation companies or NGOs, like you said, the government agencies, they're not actually there to help the environment.

570
00:45:25,368 --> 00:45:29,808
they're used as a weapon to get rid of natural food.

571
00:45:30,608 --> 00:45:32,588
And unfortunately, so many people are falling for this.

572
00:45:33,108 --> 00:45:36,068
It's just a shame to, with just...

573
00:45:36,118 --> 00:45:38,658
how easily bought a lot of the people are,

574
00:45:39,078 --> 00:45:40,518
essentially what it comes down to.

575
00:45:41,638 --> 00:45:42,918
And then also the last thing too,

576
00:45:42,978 --> 00:45:43,878
I just realized I didn't even really talk

577
00:45:43,878 --> 00:45:45,018
on the whole processing aspect

578
00:45:45,018 --> 00:45:46,378
because I know online people probably

579
00:45:46,378 --> 00:45:47,838
have seen a lot of videos on

580
00:45:47,838 --> 00:45:50,238
like the big four meatpacking companies,

581
00:45:50,338 --> 00:45:53,698
essentially to where farmers and ranchers

582
00:45:53,698 --> 00:45:55,598
have a stranglehold of when they can process their animals.

583
00:45:55,958 --> 00:45:57,158
So I'll give an example of that too.

584
00:45:57,718 --> 00:45:58,958
Back in 2020,

585
00:46:00,158 --> 00:46:03,038
and then if you try to build out new processing facilities,

586
00:46:03,478 --> 00:46:04,298
depending on the state,

587
00:46:04,358 --> 00:46:05,578
there's just so many different laws.

588
00:46:06,118 --> 00:46:09,618
And, for example, there's a friend in Michigan.

589
00:46:09,818 --> 00:46:11,398
They're trying to have a small butchery.

590
00:46:11,978 --> 00:46:17,418
It took about 18 months of all this process to go, and then the USDA just rejects it.

591
00:46:17,698 --> 00:46:19,098
They have no idea why.

592
00:46:19,478 --> 00:46:23,678
They're still fighting for it, but they can't even pass through that.

593
00:46:23,818 --> 00:46:30,198
And so that's another issue is the fact that there's a massive stranglehold on the processing facilities.

594
00:46:30,378 --> 00:46:32,718
And who has the control of all of that?

595
00:46:32,718 --> 00:46:37,058
will all of the bigger companies like Tyson JBS that already own everything.

596
00:46:37,858 --> 00:46:43,418
That's how they got through with COVID, with all the bird flu hysteria, essentially,

597
00:46:44,178 --> 00:46:47,018
is they can control all of it all for their own money.

598
00:46:47,178 --> 00:46:49,358
And who gets screwed the most? The farmers and ranchers.

599
00:46:49,558 --> 00:46:52,458
We do too, but the farmers and ranchers get squeezed out the most.

600
00:46:53,038 --> 00:46:56,498
And that's another thing too, is over time, the amount of money they get back

601
00:46:56,498 --> 00:46:58,158
is just completely dwindles.

602
00:47:00,558 --> 00:47:01,418
Yeah, it's crazy.

603
00:47:01,418 --> 00:47:15,358
And this is something that you understand better than anyone is how these regulations that the government and other giant organizations push through are never to actually help people.

604
00:47:16,178 --> 00:47:22,258
And we kind of have this idea in our head that, oh, they're providing guardrails to make sure the food is safer.

605
00:47:22,258 --> 00:47:24,558
but I think most people

606
00:47:24,558 --> 00:47:26,118
who are paying attention

607
00:47:26,118 --> 00:47:27,498
have any IQ points at all.

608
00:47:27,618 --> 00:47:29,298
I can understand that the FDA

609
00:47:29,298 --> 00:47:30,738
and these other agencies

610
00:47:30,738 --> 00:47:33,458
are not helping the people.

611
00:47:33,538 --> 00:47:34,418
They do not have the interest

612
00:47:34,418 --> 00:47:34,978
of the people.

613
00:47:35,358 --> 00:47:36,818
Who are they actually serving, Ryan?

614
00:47:36,878 --> 00:47:39,578
Who are these big organizations

615
00:47:39,578 --> 00:47:41,018
actually helping

616
00:47:41,018 --> 00:47:42,618
with all this regulation

617
00:47:42,618 --> 00:47:43,478
that they're pushing down?

618
00:47:44,138 --> 00:47:45,118
That is a good question.

619
00:47:47,038 --> 00:47:49,018
I mean, I guess it's hard

620
00:47:49,018 --> 00:47:51,358
to really know, but...

621
00:47:52,258 --> 00:48:00,538
All the powers that be of JBS and those big companies, for sure, they have massive influence on our food system.

622
00:48:01,498 --> 00:48:04,618
And then whoever, I don't know, that's why it's hard.

623
00:48:04,618 --> 00:48:06,018
I don't know.

624
00:48:08,298 --> 00:48:12,638
Because to me, it's whoever is actually controlling America, too.

625
00:48:13,638 --> 00:48:17,098
I think all of that is in one big hotbed.

626
00:48:17,178 --> 00:48:17,918
Because it's our food system.

627
00:48:17,998 --> 00:48:20,398
You control the food, you control the population in a lot of ways.

628
00:48:20,398 --> 00:48:30,098
I mean, because then that goes to the whole pharma aspect in our own healthcare, because you create the problem and the solution.

629
00:48:31,178 --> 00:48:35,558
So part of the problem is our food is just completely jacked up.

630
00:48:35,838 --> 00:48:40,158
And you can follow for all of the tobacco companies as that went away.

631
00:48:40,358 --> 00:48:45,778
Those companies started working with the food companies and really developing how we could become addicted to all the garbage.

632
00:48:45,778 --> 00:48:50,658
and that's another issue because with me too i mean like i said my health was really bad

633
00:48:50,658 --> 00:48:56,618
but after my brother died i was emotionally eating like crazy um because i remember the first meal i

634
00:48:56,618 --> 00:49:02,958
ate the first meat i had after being vegan for two and a half years was chick-fil-a uh a chick-fil-a

635
00:49:02,958 --> 00:49:08,958
chicken nugget and i remember it was actually weird as all hell to have chicken um but then i

636
00:49:08,958 --> 00:49:13,598
just started eating junk food again and it makes me think too where we're at culturally is we're a

637
00:49:13,598 --> 00:49:19,378
very sick population. And when you're sick and this food has literally chemically hardwired you,

638
00:49:19,518 --> 00:49:25,298
it's incredibly difficult to break. And then I believe that a lot of people, it's just eating

639
00:49:25,298 --> 00:49:29,578
is another form of escape of their trauma or whatever they're facing. And so that in itself

640
00:49:29,578 --> 00:49:36,198
is another avenue. And to me, all the powers that be realize this and they're just raking in the

641
00:49:36,198 --> 00:49:43,178
money. They rake in so much money. It's pretty much like having a retirement account just on

642
00:49:43,178 --> 00:49:46,978
auto repeat to where you can just sit there and you're making so much money because everyone's

643
00:49:46,978 --> 00:49:51,558
just getting sicker and sicker relying on you and you can just sit in your ivory tower just

644
00:49:51,558 --> 00:50:00,078
laughing away you know i think that the zeitgeist is really starting to figure that out the it's no

645
00:50:00,078 --> 00:50:06,458
longer a conspiracy theory that the big pharma and big food are best buds because because people get

646
00:50:06,458 --> 00:50:12,118
addicted to more crap food they get more sick and they buy more pills and both of those sides

647
00:50:12,118 --> 00:50:16,858
benefit greatly. And as I, I don't know if you heard of Matthew Leschak, have you, you followed

648
00:50:16,858 --> 00:50:21,898
him or his? Oh, yes. Yeah, actually. Yeah. Okay. His book, Fiat Food covers this. And we did a

649
00:50:21,898 --> 00:50:26,218
podcast basically about how the government is really the third arm of that trifecta. And they

650
00:50:26,218 --> 00:50:30,918
also benefit from people eating garbage food because it makes it easier for them to hide

651
00:50:30,918 --> 00:50:36,518
inflation because real food is getting super expensive and they don't want that to look bad

652
00:50:36,518 --> 00:50:38,878
for their money printing results.

653
00:50:39,078 --> 00:50:42,458
So it's all against people.

654
00:50:42,638 --> 00:50:45,438
And I think that this is very daunting

655
00:50:45,438 --> 00:50:47,558
for a lot of people as they learn about this.

656
00:50:47,598 --> 00:50:49,898
It seems like how do we fight back

657
00:50:49,898 --> 00:50:52,738
against this huge triple force of big food,

658
00:50:52,838 --> 00:50:53,798
big farm and big government?

659
00:50:53,938 --> 00:50:54,858
They have so much power.

660
00:50:55,418 --> 00:50:57,938
And one of the solutions that I push so hard

661
00:50:57,938 --> 00:50:59,678
and I've had Texas Slim on,

662
00:50:59,738 --> 00:51:02,078
who I'm sure you know to talk about this,

663
00:51:02,458 --> 00:51:06,418
is Bitcoin being the form of money

664
00:51:06,418 --> 00:51:07,938
that can't be printed by the government

665
00:51:07,938 --> 00:51:12,218
and sort of removes the whole money printer aspect out of it

666
00:51:12,218 --> 00:51:16,818
and gives farmers and consumers a way to direct pay with each other

667
00:51:16,818 --> 00:51:21,038
so there's no credit card or bank account that they can shut down,

668
00:51:21,118 --> 00:51:22,998
which is one of the biggest weapons they use against these farmers.

669
00:51:22,998 --> 00:51:28,458
So what are your thoughts on Bitcoin as this new technology

670
00:51:28,458 --> 00:51:31,718
that could actually help all these farmers stay free?

671
00:51:33,218 --> 00:51:36,078
I'm definitely a Bitcoin maxi.

672
00:51:36,078 --> 00:51:42,878
I got very, very, very, very lucky in the big brother department.

673
00:51:43,418 --> 00:51:48,598
He, it obviously sucks that I'll never, I mean, I believe I'll see him in the afterlife.

674
00:51:49,118 --> 00:51:55,318
I mean, but with the loss of a loved one, that pain never goes away.

675
00:51:55,798 --> 00:52:02,818
With that being said, he set me up very well for the rest of my life in terms of being able to live without him.

676
00:52:02,818 --> 00:52:06,758
because he told me about Bitcoin for a while

677
00:52:06,758 --> 00:52:08,018
and I didn't understand it.

678
00:52:08,078 --> 00:52:08,778
It's actually hilarious.

679
00:52:08,938 --> 00:52:10,738
I bought Bitcoin back in 2015

680
00:52:10,738 --> 00:52:13,938
and I had no idea what I was doing.

681
00:52:14,038 --> 00:52:15,458
The only reason why I bought Bitcoin was

682
00:52:15,458 --> 00:52:17,818
there was this website to where you could buy

683
00:52:17,818 --> 00:52:20,358
stuff off of Amazon for like 20% off.

684
00:52:20,958 --> 00:52:22,178
So I was just,

685
00:52:22,738 --> 00:52:25,718
I bought a bunch of Bitcoin just to buy stuff off of Amazon.

686
00:52:25,898 --> 00:52:27,658
I was saving 20% every single time.

687
00:52:28,218 --> 00:52:30,278
But then I remember it was a couple of years later,

688
00:52:30,598 --> 00:52:32,118
it was actually Andreas Antonopoulos.

689
00:52:32,818 --> 00:52:39,118
I watched his two episodes on Rogan and him just giving concrete examples of his life and Greece.

690
00:52:39,898 --> 00:52:41,818
I really saw the true value of it all.

691
00:52:42,558 --> 00:52:46,598
And then I've been a big Ron Paul guy my whole life, too.

692
00:52:46,598 --> 00:52:50,198
I was libertarian up until essentially this most recent election.

693
00:52:51,078 --> 00:52:58,038
And so I've always thought about a lot of that stuff of getting away from the government and just people meddling with our money.

694
00:52:58,038 --> 00:53:02,258
and how the fact that banks are asking you what you're doing with your money

695
00:53:02,258 --> 00:53:06,278
and they can just stop you from even using it, just all of that garbage.

696
00:53:07,138 --> 00:53:08,658
And then I think about farming and all of that.

697
00:53:08,758 --> 00:53:12,138
Yeah, this is why I was saying earlier that there's just so much overlap between –

698
00:53:12,138 --> 00:53:12,818
I mean, you mentioned SLIM.

699
00:53:12,898 --> 00:53:17,798
That's what Beef Initiative is, that overlap with farming and just individual sovereignty

700
00:53:17,798 --> 00:53:21,318
because the government hates that.

701
00:53:21,318 --> 00:53:26,598
They hate loss of control, especially with your money supply.

702
00:53:28,038 --> 00:53:32,598
And so Bitcoin to me is the way forward.

703
00:53:33,698 --> 00:53:34,858
I've tried to,

704
00:53:34,958 --> 00:53:38,418
I try to talk to people about Bitcoin as much as I'm talking about farming

705
00:53:38,418 --> 00:53:38,958
and ranching.

706
00:53:40,258 --> 00:53:41,038
Funny enough,

707
00:53:41,178 --> 00:53:41,618
I have,

708
00:53:42,078 --> 00:53:43,778
I remember it was on Amazon for sale,

709
00:53:44,498 --> 00:53:45,318
Saifedean's book.

710
00:53:45,498 --> 00:53:47,898
I bought like 20 or 30 copies cause it was just so cheap.

711
00:53:48,218 --> 00:53:49,398
And so I'm just handing that out to,

712
00:53:50,278 --> 00:53:53,018
because if you can think about sovereignty from your food,

713
00:53:53,018 --> 00:53:55,258
then I hope you can think about that for your money too.

714
00:53:55,258 --> 00:54:01,238
but again that makes you think about long term too for a lot of big corners i know you're thinking

715
00:54:01,238 --> 00:54:05,498
people are thinking about their future children but then also their children's children and

716
00:54:05,498 --> 00:54:10,958
etc etc that's how we have to think about our food too because everything that we're experiencing

717
00:54:10,958 --> 00:54:16,278
in our food system now it didn't happen overnight this has been happening you can even argue since

718
00:54:16,278 --> 00:54:23,678
1910s 20s it's just continually it takes decades and decades to see the full consequences and so

719
00:54:23,678 --> 00:54:32,538
I know we'll still see a lot of good changes with our food system, but to me, I'm fighting for my grandchildren on our food system.

720
00:54:33,118 --> 00:54:36,918
And I wouldn't have been able to think like that had it not been for Bitcoin because,

721
00:54:50,974 --> 00:54:57,914
our food system. But to me, I'm fighting for my grandchildren on our food system. And I wouldn't

722
00:54:57,914 --> 00:55:02,654
have been able to think like that had it not been for Bitcoin, because Bitcoin was the first thing

723
00:55:02,654 --> 00:55:07,674
that made me start really thinking about time preference. I know that's my brother. People can

724
00:55:07,674 --> 00:55:14,114
tell you about Bitcoin and why they believe that. But once you actually fully embody that yourself,

725
00:55:14,114 --> 00:55:19,834
then you can really understand the full time preference aspect. And so now that I do

726
00:55:19,834 --> 00:55:23,134
yeah I can't not think about it

727
00:55:23,134 --> 00:55:27,114
I completely agree with all that

728
00:55:27,114 --> 00:55:28,814
I just think it helps empower

729
00:55:28,814 --> 00:55:30,654
all of the

730
00:55:30,654 --> 00:55:32,274
parties that we care about here

731
00:55:32,274 --> 00:55:34,814
that are trying to make these

732
00:55:34,814 --> 00:55:37,034
person to person connections again

733
00:55:37,034 --> 00:55:38,874
because that's what this is all about

734
00:55:38,874 --> 00:55:40,994
it's reconnecting with your farmer shaking your farmer's

735
00:55:40,994 --> 00:55:43,094
hand being able to pay them for things

736
00:55:43,094 --> 00:55:44,894
in a money that can't be debased

737
00:55:44,894 --> 00:55:46,174
so it feels good

738
00:55:46,174 --> 00:55:48,254
passing your Bitcoin over to them

739
00:55:48,254 --> 00:55:52,874
And I lived in Costa Rica for a couple months earlier this year.

740
00:55:53,834 --> 00:56:02,514
And where I was, there was a great, I guess it'd technically be a butcher or just a meat shop.

741
00:56:02,754 --> 00:56:07,434
Segura's Meat Shop is a place where they have all this regenerative beef and you can pay for it with Bitcoin.

742
00:56:08,014 --> 00:56:16,754
So it just feels good supporting the beef movement with sound money that they can't take away.

743
00:56:16,754 --> 00:56:19,634
Because when you're, I mean, this is deep level stuff.

744
00:56:19,734 --> 00:56:23,814
And obviously, not everyone out there has Bitcoiners in yet, but I hope they will be soon.

745
00:56:23,894 --> 00:56:35,434
But when you're giving dollars to a farmer or rancher, if the day ever comes where the government cracks down them and takes away their bank account, which we've seen, then they've lost that money.

746
00:56:35,514 --> 00:56:36,734
But they can't take away their Bitcoin.

747
00:56:37,034 --> 00:56:44,654
So it's a great way to know that you're really bolstering their business in a powerful way and helping get them down the rabbit hole more.

748
00:56:44,654 --> 00:56:46,634
because as they get more Bitcoin, they'll learn about it more,

749
00:56:46,734 --> 00:56:49,834
and then they'll continue building their company around it,

750
00:56:49,854 --> 00:56:53,534
which is just a great way for all businesses to function,

751
00:56:53,734 --> 00:56:55,974
and especially small ones that we care about.

752
00:56:56,094 --> 00:56:58,014
They're helping make our community healthier.

753
00:56:58,134 --> 00:56:58,654
It's so important.

754
00:56:59,754 --> 00:57:00,134
Spot on.

755
00:57:00,334 --> 00:57:05,994
And the last thing, too, you're spot on talking about the price manipulation aspect, too,

756
00:57:06,794 --> 00:57:12,534
because as Trump took office, what did him and Brooke Rollins talk about?

757
00:57:12,534 --> 00:57:17,214
the price of eggs. That's all I talked about. The price of eggs, it's so high, we got to lower it.

758
00:57:17,434 --> 00:57:21,854
And that's all they did. And the ways they went about it, I don't agree with fully,

759
00:57:22,414 --> 00:57:26,774
but they got the price of eggs down. And that's all they did. But why did they do that? To distract

760
00:57:26,774 --> 00:57:35,114
in a lot of ways for the population. And that just, to me, goes back to just the price,

761
00:57:35,114 --> 00:57:39,934
how we view the economics of our food, because it's so jacked up. And obviously,

762
00:57:39,934 --> 00:57:44,974
inflation is horrific and they might pass this one awesome, beautiful bill that will

763
00:57:44,974 --> 00:57:53,514
help the inflation even more. And so, yeah, it's interesting too from the economics of farming and

764
00:57:53,514 --> 00:57:58,094
ranching too, because in a lot of ways, there's a lot of communist aspects of it all because

765
00:57:58,094 --> 00:58:02,854
they try to come and save the day for food. There's not a lot of free market. There's not

766
00:58:02,854 --> 00:58:09,714
a lot of innovation. And so that's where Bitcoin can come into play too. It's just a very

767
00:58:09,714 --> 00:58:16,474
over-regulated system too because then going back to the the butchery process there's just so many

768
00:58:16,474 --> 00:58:23,334
different regulations test fees you have to pay for and so that's why i was just saying the the

769
00:58:23,334 --> 00:58:29,334
farmer rancher is the amount of money they see back is dwindling more and more because every

770
00:58:29,334 --> 00:58:36,014
single agency whether it's the farm credit bureau system has just been completely captured to try

771
00:58:36,014 --> 00:58:38,054
to maximize how much money they can take out of that farmer

772
00:58:38,054 --> 00:58:39,014
or rancher and just

773
00:58:39,014 --> 00:58:41,474
essentially turn them into

774
00:58:41,474 --> 00:58:44,174
because with Tyson, a lot of these

775
00:58:44,174 --> 00:58:45,174
the farmers are just

776
00:58:45,174 --> 00:58:47,594
they're feudal lords and

777
00:58:47,594 --> 00:58:49,414
they're just tyrants essentially.

778
00:58:49,974 --> 00:58:51,254
It's just modern day feudalism.

779
00:58:53,934 --> 00:58:55,894
Ryan, I need to scold you for a second, dude.

780
00:58:55,954 --> 00:58:58,054
I just pulled up Nostra to try to

781
00:58:58,054 --> 00:58:59,894
find you on there. Are you not a Nostra yet?

782
00:58:59,894 --> 00:59:00,654
I'm not.

783
00:59:01,734 --> 00:59:04,094
Speaking of technologies

784
00:59:04,094 --> 00:59:05,254
for freedom,

785
00:59:05,834 --> 00:59:07,214
How much do you know about Nostra?

786
00:59:07,294 --> 00:59:09,434
Because I think this is going to be a huge piece of it too.

787
00:59:09,734 --> 00:59:11,074
No, I do know Nostra.

788
00:59:11,234 --> 00:59:18,394
The issue is I have so much on my plate that it's hard to manage every social media.

789
00:59:19,154 --> 00:59:20,114
Because I'm also...

790
00:59:20,114 --> 00:59:26,034
It's interesting too what people see as the business-facing side.

791
00:59:26,034 --> 00:59:29,034
Because every time they miss me on Instagram, they think they're talking to some team.

792
00:59:29,734 --> 00:59:32,234
Or when they email me, they think they're talking to some support.

793
00:59:33,174 --> 00:59:33,974
No, it's just me.

794
00:59:33,974 --> 00:59:36,914
Like I'm doing a lot of all that.

795
00:59:37,054 --> 00:59:39,194
So I'm severely understaffed.

796
00:59:39,574 --> 00:59:45,234
I do want to do Nostra, but it's more so bandwidth issues.

797
00:59:46,154 --> 00:59:46,634
Yeah.

798
00:59:46,774 --> 00:59:54,074
Cause I don't even use LinkedIn and LinkedIn actually, I don't like LinkedIn overall, but there's a huge agriculture section on that.

799
00:59:54,554 --> 00:59:57,794
So right now my only focus is I've been Twitter and Instagram.

800
00:59:58,634 --> 00:59:59,114
Yeah.

801
01:00:00,054 --> 01:00:01,194
Cause I do like Nostra.

802
01:00:01,694 --> 01:00:02,774
Yeah, no, I totally understand.

803
01:00:02,774 --> 01:00:06,234
And I'll give you the mega bull case if you haven't received it recently, though.

804
01:00:06,234 --> 01:00:20,134
I see a future where Nostrid just swallows everything the same way that Bitcoin swallows all money because it essentially brings so much freedom to people in so many ways where you own your digital identity.

805
01:00:20,494 --> 01:00:23,354
You can pay with Bitcoin to people in one tap.

806
01:00:23,454 --> 01:00:26,254
It's natively integrated to send sats around easily.

807
01:00:26,254 --> 01:00:34,934
So we're already seeing there are a bunch of farmers arriving on there already who are finding out, oh, crap, I can just talk about my farm right here.

808
01:00:34,974 --> 01:00:36,714
And people just send me SaaS.

809
01:00:36,874 --> 01:00:46,534
They can buy stuff through their shop clients coming out where people can just actually have sell things on there and just get paid directly and just remove all the other middlemen.

810
01:00:46,534 --> 01:00:54,994
and in the future i i think that the the end game is that twitter and linkedin and instagram and all

811
01:00:54,994 --> 01:01:01,754
these different big social media apps will have to become nostre clients if they want to keep going

812
01:01:01,754 --> 01:01:07,274
because we're going to have these alternatives that are built on nostre where people can't be

813
01:01:07,274 --> 01:01:12,134
controlled and shadow banned and algorithm slaves and it's just going to be a better alternative

814
01:01:12,134 --> 01:01:18,174
so obviously it's a we're very early to it but i do think it's going to continue growing and

815
01:01:18,174 --> 01:01:24,114
getting better better so i don't know i like that and i guess my my whole rationale too is the people

816
01:01:24,114 --> 01:01:30,014
i'm trying to reach right now are the people that are on instagram or twitter um yeah because i mean

817
01:01:30,014 --> 01:01:36,254
it's like i was saying it's literally 99 of america is not in our culture and so how can i

818
01:01:36,254 --> 01:01:43,274
it's a very tough problem because I'm also fighting against just the TikTok algorithm

819
01:01:43,274 --> 01:01:46,414
and all of the garbage of where we're at now with social media.

820
01:01:47,414 --> 01:01:52,974
So I'm trying to culturally help drive culture change too.

821
01:01:53,334 --> 01:01:55,234
That was kind of a mission I'm in now.

822
01:01:55,894 --> 01:01:59,994
So in July, I have this truck.

823
01:02:00,154 --> 01:02:04,734
I'm getting a videographer to come with me for the next essentially five and a half months

824
01:02:04,734 --> 01:02:10,914
to where I'm traveling around the country, visiting farms and ranches to really, one,

825
01:02:10,974 --> 01:02:16,494
do my podcast in person and to just really drive the quality of that to have better conversations

826
01:02:16,494 --> 01:02:22,814
and stories, but then also tours, any educational videos, but just to humanize this whole entire

827
01:02:22,814 --> 01:02:28,414
industry, but as well as just trying to wake people up. Because when I think of a social media

828
01:02:28,414 --> 01:02:34,154
to really try to capture somebody, you only have three seconds. Our attention spans are really bad

829
01:02:34,154 --> 01:02:39,194
now because that's what's something the older generations have no idea they really can't

830
01:02:39,194 --> 01:02:44,594
understand is for the younger generations you've had a screen in your face pretty much at birth

831
01:02:44,594 --> 01:02:53,494
and so that it's hard to understand that and so it's interesting whenever the older generations

832
01:02:53,494 --> 01:02:58,654
you know will say that kids these days are this or that but they've been brainwashed in so many

833
01:02:58,654 --> 01:03:05,134
ways. I have a cousin to wear. She despises me and is so woke. But that's because I've seen the

834
01:03:05,134 --> 01:03:08,794
evolution over time from social media, especially Instagram and how they've attacked everybody. And

835
01:03:08,794 --> 01:03:16,734
she's a woman. So all of the typical things that have attacked, it works. And so how can I push

836
01:03:16,734 --> 01:03:21,314
back to all of that and get people to care about something like farming to where something is,

837
01:03:21,434 --> 01:03:25,914
we're already so disconnected from to where so many people, a lot of people believe that our

838
01:03:25,914 --> 01:03:29,834
food comes from grocery stores. I should start at that. Like that is actually a thing to where

839
01:03:29,834 --> 01:03:34,094
it sounds crazy, but there's a lot of people out there to where they don't think food comes from

840
01:03:34,094 --> 01:03:39,614
a farmer ranch. It comes from a grocery store. And so how can I help change that on social media

841
01:03:39,614 --> 01:03:47,634
through stories and whatnot and really getting, I guess, the gotchas?

842
01:03:48,814 --> 01:03:51,794
So I'm doing this road trip and I'm doing another road trip next year. And essentially,

843
01:03:51,794 --> 01:03:56,554
these next four years I'm gonna be on the road pretty much as much as I can to

844
01:03:56,554 --> 01:04:02,294
share stories essentially kind of like what do you look at YouTube at all you

845
01:04:02,294 --> 01:04:09,114
know Peter Santanello is I don't recognize that name no so he to me is the

846
01:04:09,114 --> 01:04:21,750
greatest account on what America is like because he has traveled everywhere he travels everywhere in the country and he just talks with people that show him around and share stories And it so powerful

847
01:04:21,750 --> 01:04:27,170
because we have this viewpoint or that viewpoint on America. And a lot of it might be true.

848
01:04:27,410 --> 01:04:33,410
We might be missing some things. He is showing the depths of this country and really humanizes it.

849
01:04:34,250 --> 01:04:38,670
And it's awesome because you have to go independent, essentially. That's what I'm

850
01:04:38,670 --> 01:04:43,890
doing is I'm becoming an independent journalist. Why did Substack get so large is because all the

851
01:04:43,890 --> 01:04:50,950
media got captured. And so people wanted to go independent through all that. And it's, it's just

852
01:04:50,950 --> 01:04:54,010
kind of why it has to be a collaborative effort too. That's why I love Bitcoiners so much because

853
01:04:54,010 --> 01:04:58,690
Bitcoiners are so collaborative, want to help each other because you all have the understanding

854
01:04:58,690 --> 01:05:05,430
of what we're up against. But then also just the shared values system. That's also why I love

855
01:05:05,430 --> 01:05:08,850
farming and ranching because there's a lot of shared values immediately like whenever i go to

856
01:05:08,850 --> 01:05:14,670
bitcoin conference even before i met you ben say i met you just randomly at bitcoin i know we'd be

857
01:05:14,670 --> 01:05:23,270
able to talk for hours because of our our shared fundamental values and that's why i love farmers

858
01:05:23,270 --> 01:05:31,430
and ranchers so much is because despite everything they go up against despite all the stress because

859
01:05:31,430 --> 01:05:35,070
people don't know that the suicide rate for farmers is worse than veterans

860
01:05:35,070 --> 01:05:42,170
but despite all that they still want to farm and ranch and so there's something to that and

861
01:05:42,170 --> 01:05:47,450
yeah i'll just end up that that's why i always say above all else go visit a farm ranch because

862
01:05:47,450 --> 01:05:54,150
it can literally change your life it changed mine absolutely and one of the good concepts

863
01:05:54,150 --> 01:06:02,150
this brings up too is the the top down versus the bottom up forces here for for making change

864
01:06:02,150 --> 01:06:07,290
for good and i think you and i both would believe that bottom up is really how we're going to do

865
01:06:07,290 --> 01:06:13,930
this because we keep getting these glimmers of hope that oh maybe there will be some top down

866
01:06:13,930 --> 01:06:17,750
leader that actually changes things i'm not sure how you feel about the current administration

867
01:06:17,750 --> 01:06:23,010
there's certain names out there that have said the right things but i don't know if i just i

868
01:06:23,010 --> 01:06:27,530
just don't trust any politicians anymore. I don't care how many nice things they say, but I just

869
01:06:27,530 --> 01:06:32,590
think that this really is going to start from educating and supporting the farmers and ranchers

870
01:06:32,590 --> 01:06:37,610
at the bottom, giving them freedom tools like Bitcoin Noster and just getting them the tools

871
01:06:37,610 --> 01:06:44,290
to thrive without any need for any specific leader in the political system. Would you agree that we

872
01:06:44,290 --> 01:06:49,790
should be 100% focused on bottom-up right now? I think America is completely a captured nation.

873
01:06:49,790 --> 01:06:55,810
that's a whole another conversation a whole another conversation but i fully believe we have

874
01:06:55,810 --> 01:07:01,610
been a captured country for a very long time and so that's why like you said bottom up that's exactly

875
01:07:01,610 --> 01:07:07,870
i think about interesting enough i i've been reading it's got the title of the book but it

876
01:07:07,870 --> 01:07:15,210
was leading up to the american revolutionary war and how like when you look at the boston tea party

877
01:07:15,210 --> 01:07:17,110
it was a 2% tax.

878
01:07:17,570 --> 01:07:19,650
So people were like, why would people revolt

879
01:07:19,650 --> 01:07:21,510
and do something like that over a 2% tax?

880
01:07:22,590 --> 01:07:23,610
It wasn't just because

881
01:07:23,610 --> 01:07:25,390
it was only 2%, it was because a lot of

882
01:07:25,390 --> 01:07:27,590
landowners could see the writing on the wall

883
01:07:27,590 --> 01:07:29,450
that if the British government was going to

884
01:07:29,450 --> 01:07:31,190
implement a 2% tax,

885
01:07:31,570 --> 01:07:33,370
they were going to continue to push and push and push

886
01:07:33,370 --> 01:07:34,890
to where they were eventually going to steal your land.

887
01:07:35,610 --> 01:07:37,730
And so they built decentralized communities.

888
01:07:39,070 --> 01:07:39,650
Like, that's what...

889
01:07:40,650 --> 01:07:41,810
It's interesting

890
01:07:41,810 --> 01:07:43,710
how Americans,

891
01:07:43,710 --> 01:07:49,830
Like we know, a lot of us know how lucky we are to be in this country.

892
01:07:50,330 --> 01:07:57,610
But man, you have to look at the formation and leading up to how we broke away from the British government and formed America.

893
01:07:58,390 --> 01:08:01,890
It's insane how they were able to do that because there's no technology.

894
01:08:01,990 --> 01:08:05,430
You can just go on Telegram and build these little networks.

895
01:08:06,610 --> 01:08:11,890
But so they could see the writing on the wall with tyranny and they build up the bottom up approach, essentially.

896
01:08:11,890 --> 01:08:16,990
And that's how the American Revolutionary War started for a multitude of reasons.

897
01:08:16,990 --> 01:08:19,790
But it was just the fact that they could see the writing on the wall with the 2% tax.

898
01:08:20,770 --> 01:08:27,070
And I think about that a lot with how they try to do stuff like that.

899
01:08:27,230 --> 01:08:36,090
When I say they, the government tries to make these little seemingly innocent little taxes or laws.

900
01:08:36,430 --> 01:08:39,310
But it's not for that to continue to push.

901
01:08:39,650 --> 01:08:40,570
I mean, that's what COVID was.

902
01:08:40,570 --> 01:08:48,690
I will fully believe that's what COVID was, to test humanity's response to how much overreach and control they can have on us.

903
01:08:50,870 --> 01:08:51,950
And now we're, yeah.

904
01:08:55,910 --> 01:09:04,630
One of the questions I got to ask here is the scalability side of regenerative farming.

905
01:09:04,750 --> 01:09:08,210
I know that this is a big concern for a lot of people that are hearing about this.

906
01:09:08,210 --> 01:09:15,230
they think oh obviously that giant pig mill that you talked about this factory farming stuff is

907
01:09:15,230 --> 01:09:21,690
really bad we got to get away from that but is it scalable to go to a fully regenerative farming

908
01:09:21,690 --> 01:09:28,150
model where all of us can have direct access to really good quality meat in farms in our

909
01:09:28,150 --> 01:09:33,970
communities what are your thoughts on that it's a very complex issue um

910
01:09:33,970 --> 01:09:40,870
because i think it is scalable because there's an example like pasture bird to where they scaled

911
01:09:40,870 --> 01:09:46,290
the hell out of their pasture-raised chicken but then we have will harris of white oak pastures

912
01:09:46,290 --> 01:09:49,570
saying that he doesn't believe it's regenerative or that regenerative can scale

913
01:09:49,570 --> 01:09:54,430
and so i don't even know if that's the right question to ask because

914
01:09:54,430 --> 01:09:58,630
the problem in itself is the fact we don't have enough people in general getting into the space

915
01:09:58,630 --> 01:10:00,530
The average age of the farmer is nearly 60.

916
01:10:03,290 --> 01:10:05,390
Most don't have an heir.

917
01:10:06,310 --> 01:10:09,030
Hardly anyone's getting into the space of farming and ranching.

918
01:10:09,950 --> 01:10:13,370
But then that goes back to the conversation of it's because it's hard to even make a profit.

919
01:10:13,590 --> 01:10:16,150
It's hard to even get by.

920
01:10:18,050 --> 01:10:21,850
And so that's also why I say you have to support the ones that are already doing it out there.

921
01:10:22,490 --> 01:10:25,930
Because if we want to see the change, if we want regenerative long term,

922
01:10:25,930 --> 01:10:29,890
but you're not supporting directly or doing what you can,

923
01:10:31,090 --> 01:10:33,350
you're contributing to the problem long-term.

924
01:10:33,770 --> 01:10:36,750
And so if you're complaining, you are just a hypocrite in my opinion.

925
01:10:39,430 --> 01:10:43,810
But then, like I do believe it's scalable for sure

926
01:10:43,810 --> 01:10:46,750
because Pastra Bird has done that.

927
01:10:47,190 --> 01:10:49,970
And what's cool about regenerative agriculture

928
01:10:49,970 --> 01:10:53,650
is people that are getting into the space are getting creative with it.

929
01:10:53,650 --> 01:10:58,990
And so I know over time, as these more collaborations happen, because this is also why I have Regenestance.

930
01:10:59,070 --> 01:11:00,970
It's not just to connect consumers with producers.

931
01:11:01,430 --> 01:11:06,490
It's to connect farmers and ranchers with one another because everyone's so siloed in themselves.

932
01:11:07,550 --> 01:11:14,670
And so I believe that the more collaboration happens with all of that and sharing and whatnot, that it could happen.

933
01:11:14,670 --> 01:11:24,210
And then if we continue to drive changes positively with these government institutions over time, I absolutely believe that.

934
01:11:24,550 --> 01:11:27,130
It's just kind of where we're at with our subsidies.

935
01:11:27,490 --> 01:11:31,970
It puts a massive stranglehold on farmers because farmers includes produce.

936
01:11:32,110 --> 01:11:33,090
Ranching is just animals.

937
01:11:34,470 --> 01:11:42,910
And so the stranglehold of just doing massive monocropping of corn, soy and wheat, that is a very tough model to break out from.

938
01:11:44,670 --> 01:11:48,870
Because a lot of farmers also go into it and they know they're just raking in the dough.

939
01:11:49,630 --> 01:11:55,490
Because that's one thing, too, is there are farmers out there and ranchers out there that they don't really care what they're doing.

940
01:11:56,090 --> 01:11:58,610
That's the exception, not the norm, in my opinion.

941
01:11:59,130 --> 01:12:03,090
Most farmers and ranchers just are trying to do the best they can with what they have.

942
01:12:05,130 --> 01:12:11,090
And so that's also why, too, consumers latch on to words very strongly.

943
01:12:11,090 --> 01:12:17,210
And so they think that regenerative is the only, like if it's not regenerative, it's bad.

944
01:12:17,330 --> 01:12:18,150
The farmer's bad.

945
01:12:18,830 --> 01:12:21,430
And so take Will Harris, for example.

946
01:12:21,970 --> 01:12:32,510
He helped pioneer the grass-fed and finished beef movement essentially in America because he inherited, I think he's a fifth or sixth generational farmer of white oak pastures in Bluffton, Georgia.

947
01:12:33,650 --> 01:12:37,530
His grandfather and father were conventional farmers.

948
01:12:37,530 --> 01:12:44,450
And so he talks about how once he took over his farm, he would always go out to look for weeds and stuff to kill.

949
01:12:45,210 --> 01:12:50,130
And he had monocropping and his cattle weren't grass fed and finished.

950
01:12:51,150 --> 01:12:55,350
He realized what he was doing and what he needed to do to change.

951
01:12:55,610 --> 01:13:02,430
And so he almost pretty much lost his whole business transforming his whole entire operation to grass fed and finished.

952
01:13:02,710 --> 01:13:06,070
And now he's pretty much one of the most well-known in the space.

953
01:13:06,070 --> 01:13:08,410
He went on Joe Rogan multiple times.

954
01:13:09,630 --> 01:13:14,570
White Oak Pastures is pretty much one of the largest regenerative farms in America.

955
01:13:16,350 --> 01:13:19,610
But, I mean, he's so revered from the public.

956
01:13:20,030 --> 01:13:23,510
But I think about if the same people that revere him now,

957
01:13:23,670 --> 01:13:27,470
where they have done that 10, 20 years ago when he wasn't a regenerative farmer.

958
01:13:28,390 --> 01:13:48,787
Well Joe Salton always was that way so he not an example But I think about there so many farmers out there who are doing it the conventional way to where they might be using chemical sprays or this or that but they don have either the knowledge the funds because it is very costly at the beginning to make these changes

959
01:13:48,787 --> 01:13:55,407
so we have to support farmers in general that's that's what i'd also try to get at too is like

960
01:13:55,407 --> 01:14:00,847
the good better best model is if we want to have good farmers and ranchers and have regenerative

961
01:14:00,847 --> 01:14:08,227
system long term but you are you know tossing this or that at a farmer that's not regenerative

962
01:14:08,227 --> 01:14:13,886
right now then that's part of the problem too again this always goes back to long-term preference

963
01:14:13,886 --> 01:14:17,467
and having to have patience and understanding and grace.

964
01:14:17,907 --> 01:14:20,087
But then also we still have to be outspoken too.

965
01:14:20,687 --> 01:14:25,146
Because this is also why with the whole Maha movement and whatnot,

966
01:14:25,567 --> 01:14:27,587
I had never voted for Trump in my life.

967
01:14:27,886 --> 01:14:32,646
I never cared to until this year actually was, I voted early.

968
01:14:32,787 --> 01:14:36,347
It was the fastest I've ever voted simply because of the whole Maha movement.

969
01:14:37,047 --> 01:14:42,447
And I knew going in that there was a strong chance that none of this was ever going to be implemented

970
01:14:42,447 --> 01:14:43,407
from the actual government.

971
01:14:43,407 --> 01:14:57,327
But the fact that for the first time in our history, the government was talking about the actual problems of our health system, you know, with pharma, with the healthcare, our food systems, like they were talking about everything that's never been talked about.

972
01:14:57,667 --> 01:15:03,766
I knew that I had to take advantage of that whole movement to where to still use that with the people.

973
01:15:05,967 --> 01:15:08,266
So I still have a lot of hope with all of that.

974
01:15:08,266 --> 01:15:12,307
the fact that people are waking up, the fact that people are making these small changes,

975
01:15:13,187 --> 01:15:17,127
the fact that more people are going to farmers markets and actually having some good market

976
01:15:17,127 --> 01:15:20,547
food, getting backyard chickens, having a small garden.

977
01:15:21,947 --> 01:15:26,447
It really takes a lot of these small little changes over time to where you look back in

978
01:15:26,447 --> 01:15:29,547
20 years and you realize you changed drastically.

979
01:15:29,727 --> 01:15:33,646
Because that's how I view myself personally after everything I've gone through in my family.

980
01:15:34,146 --> 01:15:35,627
That's what I was saying with the walks and all that.

981
01:15:35,627 --> 01:15:39,947
looking back, I did a hell of a lot to build a refoundation.

982
01:15:40,727 --> 01:15:44,167
But at the time, I felt like I was doing nothing. I think that's kind of

983
01:15:44,167 --> 01:15:48,407
what's going to happen a lot is we're making these small changes and

984
01:15:48,407 --> 01:15:51,287
you just have to think long term, essentially.

985
01:15:53,266 --> 01:15:57,146
Yeah, I like that answer a lot. And something I would add to it is that there

986
01:15:57,146 --> 01:16:01,987
are layers to that scaling question. And for example,

987
01:16:01,987 --> 01:16:06,547
one of the things that Joel Salatin tells people is to just get some chickens. Everyone should get

988
01:16:06,547 --> 01:16:12,807
some chickens. And if every house in my neighborhood I'm living here were to get a little chicken coop

989
01:16:12,807 --> 01:16:18,506
in their backyard, which would handle their eggs, then the burden of the farm to have to carry the

990
01:16:18,506 --> 01:16:25,407
whole community would be lower. And so you would need less of the farms themselves to scale when

991
01:16:25,407 --> 01:16:30,746
more is decentralized even further out among each person. And then once more and more people are

992
01:16:30,746 --> 01:16:35,787
learning that, oh, this is super fun. I kind of like this. Maybe I will get a cow or something

993
01:16:35,787 --> 01:16:43,386
and just continue building their individual little homesteads as this is becoming quite a

994
01:16:43,386 --> 01:16:47,067
romantic idea that people to start their own homestead and have their own food. So they don't

995
01:16:47,067 --> 01:16:52,547
even need to rely on a farmer. And I think this is a great thing for people to learn more about

996
01:16:52,547 --> 01:16:57,526
and look into. So what would be your advice for anyone out there who may be listening and saying,

997
01:16:57,526 --> 01:17:02,427
I love farmers. This is great, but I can go even further than that. I can start my own

998
01:17:02,427 --> 01:17:07,967
little operation here where I can start growing my own food on my property and maybe get a new

999
01:17:07,967 --> 01:17:12,587
property where I have more space to do that. Where should people start if they want to learn more

1000
01:17:12,587 --> 01:17:16,487
about that and go down that path? Yeah, that's a good question.

1001
01:17:19,646 --> 01:17:24,667
So I'd say first, define what your goals are for all of that. Is it to just grow food for yourself

1002
01:17:24,667 --> 01:17:30,187
or is it to grow food and think about where that might lead to of, you know,

1003
01:17:30,246 --> 01:17:33,947
supporting your surrounding community and really start building that out?

1004
01:17:34,167 --> 01:17:36,766
Because there are a lot of differences with that too.

1005
01:17:37,687 --> 01:17:40,266
Because what's cool with all this, why I like regenerative agriculture

1006
01:17:40,266 --> 01:17:45,386
and going back to it forces you to innovate essentially,

1007
01:17:45,707 --> 01:17:48,907
is the fact that if you have these small decentralized farms and ranches

1008
01:17:48,907 --> 01:17:52,506
and homesteads, it just forces you to get creative with it all too.

1009
01:17:52,506 --> 01:17:55,047
and that just drives innovation a lot.

1010
01:17:56,026 --> 01:17:59,207
To learn, though, so I have a podcast where I talk to farmers and ranchers,

1011
01:17:59,847 --> 01:18:02,266
and it is a lot of education, too.

1012
01:18:02,927 --> 01:18:05,947
I think that's a good way because where I'm at is, again,

1013
01:18:05,986 --> 01:18:09,667
I'm just this normie dude who I worked on a farm for a little bit,

1014
01:18:09,707 --> 01:18:15,087
and I've learned a good deal bit, but compared to a farmer, I know jack shit.

1015
01:18:16,087 --> 01:18:20,766
It's a good way to really get a sense of the culture of farming and ranching.

1016
01:18:20,766 --> 01:18:25,387
through my site I have so many resources too because that's the whole point of virginisance

1017
01:18:25,387 --> 01:18:31,387
is just education as much as possible so there's that resource too because I have a sub stack

1018
01:18:31,387 --> 01:18:37,246
with all of that in terms of learning more there's some good organizations like the

1019
01:18:37,246 --> 01:18:45,506
Rodale Institute which is Alan Savory no no no is that I'm blanking so hard right now my mind is

1020
01:18:45,506 --> 01:18:51,927
mush well there's just look up alan savory on youtube he is just incredible he has a tech ted

1021
01:18:51,927 --> 01:18:57,547
talk that he gave it like 11 or 12 years ago that's just phenomenal um i'm compiling all these

1022
01:18:57,547 --> 01:19:01,687
resources for that too because then there's just so many wonderful youtube is just incredible

1023
01:19:01,687 --> 01:19:08,227
resource if you just youtube regenerative agriculture or even jill salatin or gabe brown

1024
01:19:08,227 --> 01:19:13,607
or alan savory the algorithm will do its work to where you could spend the next 10 years of

1025
01:19:13,607 --> 01:19:18,506
watching just everything you'll learn so much through all of that uh that's so that's a

1026
01:19:18,506 --> 01:19:21,567
a great resource i think that's another interesting thing too is

1027
01:19:21,567 --> 01:19:26,646
again going back to wilde farming ranch and we've outsourced a lot of our responsibilities

1028
01:19:26,646 --> 01:19:32,486
and thinking when i go to twitter and see like like grok is this true she's like oh man that's

1029
01:19:32,486 --> 01:19:38,207
where we're at now to where we're outsourcing everything literally just trusting your intuition

1030
01:19:38,207 --> 01:19:43,927
and just google um that's what i also find interesting about like finding a farmer ranch

1031
01:19:43,927 --> 01:19:49,567
you can literally just google farms and ranches near me i know it's intimidating but at the same

1032
01:19:49,567 --> 01:19:57,107
time we over complicate it because we're at a time in our lives where it's the easiest to get

1033
01:19:57,107 --> 01:20:02,347
any information um because used to you'd have to go visit a farmer ranch and start those conversations

1034
01:20:02,347 --> 01:20:04,907
which I still want you to do that.

1035
01:20:05,067 --> 01:20:08,867
But I think my biggest recommendation is actually YouTube because there,

1036
01:20:09,047 --> 01:20:15,247
there is more by the day that I continue to find just awesome accounts because

1037
01:20:15,247 --> 01:20:19,847
then you can find yourself in like Australian agriculture and Australia has a

1038
01:20:19,847 --> 01:20:22,867
rich history of agriculture, the UK, et cetera, et cetera.

1039
01:20:22,867 --> 01:20:27,447
And so I would say my website, my, my podcast,

1040
01:20:27,447 --> 01:20:34,007
but then any type of YouTube with just farming and ranching will just engross you in it all.

1041
01:20:35,587 --> 01:20:39,466
Awesome. Yeah, I actually just did a recording with Alan Savory recently.

1042
01:20:39,686 --> 01:20:42,427
So that episode is coming out soon. I'm excited to share that with folks.

1043
01:20:43,167 --> 01:20:47,607
And you just teed it up quite well, but I was going to start wrapping it up here.

1044
01:20:47,686 --> 01:20:52,787
Where else can people go find all of your great content other than your podcast, your website?

1045
01:20:52,947 --> 01:20:54,127
You said you're on Twitter and Instagram.

1046
01:20:54,127 --> 01:20:57,247
Is that all the main places you would recommend people go check you out?

1047
01:20:57,447 --> 01:21:03,727
Yeah, so I'm really building because I earlier this year changed from apparel to media company.

1048
01:21:03,827 --> 01:21:08,987
So I'm really just building that out, especially leading up to this road trip and after that.

1049
01:21:09,186 --> 01:21:11,927
So my site is just theregenissance.co.

1050
01:21:12,887 --> 01:21:15,807
And I have some really big plans for just building all that out.

1051
01:21:16,706 --> 01:21:20,206
I have a newsletter that's not just like a salesy newsletter.

1052
01:21:20,867 --> 01:21:24,966
I promise you is all very news focused of what's going on.

1053
01:21:24,966 --> 01:21:30,206
I have a sub stack that's very similar to where it's just sharing,

1054
01:21:30,307 --> 01:21:30,466
you know,

1055
01:21:30,507 --> 01:21:30,787
the history,

1056
01:21:30,887 --> 01:21:34,987
a lot of history of ag and news and things that are going on.

1057
01:21:36,307 --> 01:21:39,827
I'm going to be building out a Patreon because I'm going to have so much

1058
01:21:39,827 --> 01:21:42,147
media essentially that I'm sharing from the road.

1059
01:21:43,107 --> 01:21:43,706
And then,

1060
01:21:43,827 --> 01:21:43,966
yeah,

1061
01:21:44,027 --> 01:21:45,107
I use Twitter and Instagram.

1062
01:21:45,307 --> 01:21:46,287
It's just the regenerations.

1063
01:21:46,487 --> 01:21:48,206
And then that's where you'll be able to find me.

1064
01:21:48,747 --> 01:21:49,567
Thank you for having me,

1065
01:21:49,627 --> 01:21:49,686
Ben.

1066
01:21:49,706 --> 01:21:50,227
This was awesome.

1067
01:21:50,466 --> 01:21:53,206
And I'm going to continue bugging you about Nostra because people are going

1068
01:21:53,206 --> 01:21:58,667
to want to send you bitcoin for all this great stuff you're doing i understand that it's it's a

1069
01:21:58,667 --> 01:22:04,967
lot of stuff to juggle as you just said it's uh exciting stuff man i can't wait to continue

1070
01:22:04,967 --> 01:22:08,967
following that whole adventure you're going on it's gonna be really cool i still need to go

1071
01:22:08,967 --> 01:22:14,467
dive into your podcast this is something i try to do with all the podcasters i have on here is

1072
01:22:14,467 --> 01:22:18,647
really just go through their whole library and just hear all these people because i need more

1073
01:22:18,647 --> 01:22:23,647
farmers on here it's been too sparse i had a couple great regenerative farmers but i need more

1074
01:22:23,647 --> 01:22:27,927
this is such a great thing that everyone who has a platform needs to be pushing so

1075
01:22:27,927 --> 01:22:32,587
appreciate you so much for what you're doing curating all those into one place for folks

1076
01:22:32,587 --> 01:22:37,186
like myself who want to go learn more and i'll definitely be doing that i hope my listeners will

1077
01:22:37,186 --> 01:22:42,067
too ryan griggs i appreciate you so much for coming on man thank you for doing what you do

1078
01:22:42,067 --> 01:22:47,527
for giving me these comfy shorts we're showing them again go get them people they're amazing

1079
01:22:47,527 --> 01:22:52,547
lots of apparel to buy there and stuff to learn from Ryan and have a good one man it's been a

1080
01:22:52,547 --> 01:22:53,887
great pleasure thank you