The Regenaissance Podcast

I chat with Mark Ellison of Grandad Farms in Emmett, Idaho, about how a health-driven search for better food eventually led him to start raising his own chickens, pigs and laying hens.
Mark started with a borrowed patch of ground and a few hundred meat chickens. Today, Grandad Farms is raising animals on pasture, developing corn-and-soy-free feed, working toward organic certification and trying to build a farm to guide people to know exactly how their food was raised. 
We get into the economics behind his roughly $35 chickens and why comparing that directly with a $5 Costco rotisserie chicken misses a lot of what goes into each system. Mark explains his argument around subsidized corn and soy, labor costs and why he is willing to raise a slower-growing, more expensive bird.
We also talk about why he moved away from Cornish Cross chickens toward Freedom Rangers, what organic certification does and doesn’t tell you about how an animal was raised, the surprising reality of pasture-raised pigs, and what he has seen happen to his land after repeatedly moving poultry across it. 
Towards the end, the conversation gets into broader topics around raising children in a family business, Mark’s Christian understanding of stewardship, and why producing food for his neighbors is tied closely to how he thinks about faith and responsibility. 
Timestamps
00:00 – Intro: Mark Ellison, Grandad Farms
00:17 – Why Mark started farming
04:18 – Processing chickens and animal stewardship
06:29 – Corn-free, soy-free chicken feed
10:35 – Why a pasture chicken costs $35
18:47 – Labor and immigration in agriculture
25:01 – Stewardship and regenerative farming
27:00 – How chickens improve pasture
29:08 – Cornish Cross vs. Freedom Rangers
32:26 – What organic certification actually means
36:15 – Pasture pigs and factory pork
44:42 – Growing Grandad Farms
45:35 – Raising a family on the farm
48:00 – Farming, faith and Christianity
53:08 – Why customers seek out their food
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I chat with Jesse Zimmerman, owner of Renick Valley Meats in Renick, West Virginia, to get into the butchering side of our food system - something I hadn't covered that deeply on the show yet.
They have a fascinating story: Jesse and his wife bought a struggling custom butcher shop four years ago and have since transitioned it into a state-inspected facility.
We get into the real differences between custom-exempt and inspected processing, the regulations that sound reasonable on paper but make no sense on the kill floor (the single-shot rule, a mandated 90-degree turn in holding pens), and why that complexity isn't accidental - it's a barrier that favors the big four packers over small shops like his.
We also cover the current imported-beef controversy, country-of-origin labeling, what actually happens to the 40% of an animal that isn't meat, and the specific questions you should ask any butcher shop before you trust them with your meat.
We debate whether policy alone can fix this system, and the importance of direct relationships built on trust in solving the matter.
Timestamps
00:00 – Intro: Jesse Zimmerman, Renick Valley Meats
04:45 – Custom-exempt vs. inspected processing
07:53 – The single-shot rule and inhumane-handling write-ups
15:23 – The real reason for the 90-degree pen turn
19:15 – Big four packer control and regulatory barriers to entry
22:20 – The 300,000-metric-ton imported beef controversy
26:46 – Country-of-origin labeling and how easy it is to skirt
38:58 – What happens to the ~40% "waste" of an animal
49:37 – Questions to ask before trusting a butcher shop
1:00:21 – Grass-fed/grass-finished nuance and imported "grass-fed" beef

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Who's Jason?
Jason Hansen spent 14 years with the NRCS watching conservation rules bend for bigger, better-connected operators, and running cost-share programs structurally set up to fail the farmers they were meant to help. In 2018, he left USDA and founded Yield Unlimited.
What is Yield Unlimited?
Yield Unlimited is Jason Hansen's nonprofit that pays farmers directly, long-term, to run five core conservation practices - crop rotation, no-till/strip-till, cover crops, nutrient management, and (for a higher payout) prescribed grazing.
The model:
- Farmers apply for a land rental contract (30-second application, Jason's goal)
- Up to $2,000/acre over 10-30 years, 50% paid upfront
- Funded by donations, not federal money - pitch is $5/person/month covers the country
- Treasury notes lock in and grow the later payouts (years 10 and 20)
Why it matters:
USDA cost-share caps at 5 years, right when farmers hit the yield dip during transition.Yield Unlimited's long-term contracts are built to carry them through this period.
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Key Topics
14 years inside the NRCS, wetlands to DC headquarters
Uneven enforcement of drainage rules for connected operators
Why USDA's 5-year contracts fail farmers mid-transition
The 2018 moment that led to founding Yield Unlimited
The model: up to $2,000/acre, 10-30 year contracts
Funding it outside the federal system
Timestamps 
00:00 — Intro
02:15 — Jason's background
08:40 — Certifying wetlands in ND
15:20 — Drainage enforcement issues
24:00 — Utah, then district conservationist
31:10 — The moment with his daughter
36:30 — Why the RCPP grant failed
44:15 — Hawaii, then DC headquarters
50:00 — Leaving USDA, founding Yield Unlimited
55:30 — How the model works
1:01:00 — Funding conservation nationwide
1:07:00 — Where to follow along
Connect with Jason
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In this episode we cover why beef and dairy prices are climbing for reasons that go far beyond inflation, and what three decades of farm policy have cost rural America. 
JR Burdick runs Nourishing Family Farm in north-central Missouri, milking dairy cows and raising hogs, and has sold direct-to-consumer since 2023 after leaving conventional commodity markets and USDA subsidy programs in 2022. This is his third appearance on the show.
Key topics 
Why beef and dairy prices reflect a 30-year supply crisis, not inflation
How the 1994 Freedom to Farm Act shifted risk from government to farmers
How Smithfield-style integrators used farmer equity to consolidate the hog industry
The 2009 Dairy Depression and 2015 Holcomb fire's lasting effect on cattle herd confidence
Why cheap fuel, money, and labor are gone — and what that means for small farms
Direct-to-consumer dairy: correcting consumer misconceptions and building trust
JR's shift to organic farming and leaving USDA subsidy programs

Timestamps

0:00 – Intro, reconnecting with JR
2:00 – Affordability crisis: inflation vs. supply
5:00 – 1994 Freedom to Farm Act and the shift to income-based policy
9:00 – Hog contracts and the Smithfield equity play
16:00 – Ethanol/biodiesel bankruptcies and the 2009 Dairy Depression
23:00 – BSE scare and the 2015 Holcomb fire's lasting impact on cattle herds
28:00 – Cheap fuel, cheap money, cheap labor — and why that era's over
33:00 – Selling direct to consumer: listening over convincing
37:00 – Consumer misconceptions: winter grass, family milk cows
45:00 – The dairy farm decline stat and JR's bullish case for small, local farms
58:00 – The lettuce recall, greenwashing, and knowing your farmer
62:00 – Leaving USDA payments, faith, and the calf-birth story that keeps it all grounded

Connect with JR Burdick / Nourishing Farms

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JR's Previous Episosdes

#66
#93

Ep 120: Mike Callicrate
Mike Callicrate runs Ranch Foods Direct and Callicrate Beef out of Colorado Springs and St. Francis, Kansas. He built a fully vertically integrated operation involving raising cattle, slaughtering on-site, cutting, and selling direct to consumers. Our conversation follows his life story from his childhood on a small Colorado farm, a rodeo scholarship that led him into an animal science degree, and years running large-scale feedlots before he became one of ten ranchers who sued major meatpacker IBP in 1996 over market manipulation, a case that ended in a $1.28 billion jury verdict the judge later overturned.
We get into why that loss pushed him to stop selling livestock and start selling meat instead, how Ranch Foods Direct's on-site slaughter facility, composting system, and bone char/biochar production work together, and the economics that separate a small direct-to-consumer operation from an industrial one. 
Key topics
- From rodeo and animal science to building and later rejecting industrial feedlots
- The 1996 lawsuit against IBP, the overturned $1.28 billion verdict, and the Packers and Stockyards Act
- How producers' share of the consumer dollar collapsed since 1970
- Fraud, political influence, and market consolidation
What "pink slime" and lean finely textured beef actually are
- The grass-fed/grass-finished labelling problem 
- Declining Ogallala Aquifer levels and what it means for ranching's future
- Building local maker-owned marketplaces as an alternative to scaling up
Timestamps:
0:00 – Intro + backstory: rodeo, animal science degree, early feedlots
6:00 – Building industrial feedlots, growing concerned with market concentration
12:00 – Decision to sue IBP, being blackballed by buyers
18:00 – The lawsuit's path to trial and the $1.28B verdict
30:00 – The judge's reversal + Packers and Stockyards Act explained
36:00 – Shifting from selling livestock to selling meat direct
44:00 – Building the on-site slaughter facility and circular waste model
52:00 – The "story of the steer" and producers' lost share of the consumer dollar
1:02:00 – Scaling down vs. scaling up: why direct/local beats commodity
1:10:00 – COVID, empty shelves, and the case for local food resilience
1:18:00 – Batista brothers, JBS, and meatpacking consolidation
1:28:00 – What pink slime is and how it's made
1:38:00 – Grass-fed/grass-finished labeling and imported beef
1:46:00 – Ogallala Aquifer decline and water scarcity
1:52:00 – Vision for maker-owned marketplaces and local food hubs

Find out more: 
https://www.mikecallicrate.com/
The Regenaissance Podcast explores the people, farms, and ideas rebuilding our food system from the ground up.