S1 · E42
August 28 · 1 hr 5 min
GC
Green Cover Podcast
Keith Berns
Welcome to the Green Cover podcast, where we have really interesting conversations with some of the top regenerative farmers and experts. Join our host Green Cover co-founder and co-owner Keith Berns and our guests as they discuss how we can help people regenerate God’s Creation for future generations.
- 21 episodes
- fortnightly
- Avg 1 hr 1 min
- English
Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
- GCS1 · E41August 13 · 1 hr 1 min
Episode #41: The Fertility Hiding in Your Crop Residue — And How to Unlock It with David Olson
A single Nebraska field trial revealed that fall-applied biology can fix nitrogen straight out of the air and unlock phosphorus already locked in the soil — turning $30 worth of product into over $450 in nutrient value. Keith Berns sits down with David Olson of Sustainable Growing Solutions to break down the science behind the Decomposer and HyprCycle+ program, from how saprophytic fungi break down lignin and cellulose to why fall is the best window all year to build a fungal population in your soil. If you're tired of paying for fertility your residue could be generating for free, this episode walks through the data. Learn more about the Decomposer product: https://greencover.com/products/metagrow%E2%84%A2-d-comp?_pos=1&_sid=7f44692af&_ss=r Learn more about HyprCycle+: https://greencover.com/products/hyprcycle
- GCS1 · E40August 1 · 51 min
Episode #40: Cutting the Nitrogen Bill with Legumes and Microbes
Nitrogen fertilizer costs U.S. farmers $5 billion a year — but a good chunk of it is sitting in the atmosphere for free. Zach Lauck joins Keith to break down which legumes actually pull their weight (hairy vetch, winter peas, clovers), why timing and planting depth make or break them, and how new inoculants and free-living microbes can fix nitrogen even without a legume in the mix. If you're looking to cut input costs without cutting corners, this one's for you.
- GCJuly 24 · 56 min
Episode #39: Why You Should Be Running On-Farm Test Plots
Green Cover's Nathan Choat joins Keith to explain why the company runs hundreds of test plots every year — and why every farmer should be running small trials on their own ground, too. They dig into corn and soybean interseeding, nutrient cycling data, and why what works at someone else's field day might not work on your farm. Green Cover's summer field days are August 4th and 5th in Bladen, Nebraska — sign up free: https://greencover.com/pages/events/green-cover-summer-field-day-1
- GCS1 · E38July 17 · 1 hr 3 min
Episode #38: The Forages Behind Steakhouse-Quality, Medicinal Beef with Karl Palmberg
In this episode of the Green Cover Podcast, host Keith Berns talks with Karl Palmberg, a former F-16 pilot turned grass-fed beef producer in Larchwood, Iowa, about building a regenerative cattle operation from the ground up. Karl breaks down how he uses cover crops, baleage, and even carefully-timed corn silage to hit a 1:1 omega-6 to omega-3 ratio in his beef (versus roughly 10:1 for typical feedlot beef), along with his approach to genetics, herd size, and direct-to-consumer marketing. He also shares hands-on experience with virtual fencing including trialing collars from two different companies and the time saved from implementing the collars.You can purchase beef directly from Karl and his family through their website: https://sunlightandrain.com/Learn more about nutrient density from Dr. Stephan van Vliet: https://stephanvanvliet.com/nutrient-...Check out Green Cover's SmartMix Calculator to design custom cover crop mixes: https://smartmix.greencoverseed.com/Speak with a Green Cover sales representative at 402-469-6784.
- GCS1 · E37July 9 · 1 hr
Episode #37: 45Z Explained: How Farmers Can Get Paid for Soil Health Practices with Mitchell Hora
After nearly four years of delays, the USDA has finalized guidance for the 45Z Clean Fuel Production Credit, and it's opening up real financial opportunities for corn and soybean farmers. Mitchell Hora, seventh-generation Iowa farmer and founder of Continuum Ag, breaks down how a farm's Carbon Intensity (CI) score works and how lowering it through cover crops, no-till, and better nitrogen management can add up to premiums of 10-50 cents per bushel on corn. We cover what documentation you need, how the audit process actually works, and why farmers who already delivered 2025 crop into the biofuel supply chain need to act now. Mitchell also shares how to calculate your farm's CI score for free at https://topsoil.ag/, so you can find out if this program is worth pursuing on your own operation. As Mitchell notes, the program is still in its early stages, with real uncertainties around exactly how much ethanol plants will share with farmers, whether nearby plants will participate at all and other risks but overall the program opens up new opportunity that could radically increase adoption of soil health practices across the US.
- GCJuly 5 · 1 hr 5 min
Episode #36: Dale Strickler on Making Every Growing Degree Day Count
Wheat harvest isn't the end of your growing season, it's the start of a new opportunity. In this episode, Keith sits down with longtime cover crop expert Dale Strickler to talk through what to plant after wheat comes off, and how to turn those acres into high quality forage and free nitrogen for next year's crop. Dale breaks down the best species for summer grazing versus winter stockpile, how to fix the maximum amount of nitrogen, and how to time planting after harvest for maximum weed suppression. Ready to build your own mix? Try our SmartMix Calculator at https://smartmix.greencoverseed.com/ or contact our team to talk through your options. 402-469-6784Learn more and work with Dale Strickler: https://www.regenerativewisdom.com/
- GCS1 · E35June 19 · 1 hr
Episode #35: Perennial Genetics for Better Animal Performance with Mark Thomas
Mark Thomas has spent 30-plus years in the grass seed industry, and today he ranches south of Enid, Oklahoma with his wife Annette — raising 100% grass-fed beef on a system built around diverse annual and perennial forages. In this conversation, Keith and Mark dig into some of the most practical questions in regenerative grazing: How do you integrate perennials with annuals? When does it make sense to convert crop ground to grass? And what's actually happening in the rumen when cattle graze a diverse mix versus a monoculture?
- GCS1 · E34June 8 · 57 min
Episode #34: Why Weed-free Horse Pastures Might be Hurting Equine Health with Allison Lepanto
Allison Lepanto of Aterak Nutrition started out wanting to improve the quality of horse feed. But after seeing the prevalence of metabolic issues in younger and younger horses, surviving her own herbicide health crisis, and stepping onto farm after farm with dead soil and overflowing supplement shelves, she started connecting the dots. Pasture quality and the practices land owners are implementing is directly impacting their horses' quality of life.In this episode, Allison and Keith dig into how degraded and chemical laden pastures make horses sick, what regenerative grazing actually looks like in a horse operation, and what a two to three year soil restoration plan looks like from the ground up. It's a conversation that draws as many parallels to human health as it does to horses, and it's a good reminder that you can't supplement life back into a broken living system.Check out Allison's website to learn more: https://ateraknutrition.com/
- GCS1 · E33May 22 · 1 hr 8 min
Episode #33: A Deep Dive into Warm Season Cover Crops with Zach Louk
Green Cover sales representative and seed buyer Zach Louk joins Keith for an in-depth conversation on warm season cover crop species. The conversation covers legumes, brassicas, broadleaves and grasses with a specific focus on sorghum-sudan grass traits and characteristics. This episode will give you a greater understanding of which cover crop species are best fit for your goals this summer growing season.Got questions? We're hosting a live Ask Me Anything webinar on this exact topic on Wednesday, May 27th at 12:00pm CST. Be sure to register to have your questions answered live: https://zurl.co/2E796Or, check out the recording of the webinar on our YouTube channel later on.
- GCS1 · E32May 21 · 1 hr 1 min
Episode #32: What 45 Years in the Field Taught Jay Fuhrer About Rebuilding Soils
Jay Fuhrer spent more than 45 years as a soil health specialist with NRCS watching farming systems break down soils — and then helping farmers rebuild them. Now leading the Mennoken Farm just east of Bismarck, North Dakota, Jay shares what decades of boots-on-the-ground monitoring taught him about diverse plant communities, liquid carbon, biological energy, and why the soil carbon needle that nobody believed could move actually did.Jay will be bringing this same knowledge and passion to Green Cover's Nexus in the Field event June 3rd and 4th in Bladen, Nebraska. It's a rare opportunity to learn directly from one of the most experienced soil health minds in the country, right out in the field. Learn more and register at greencover.com/pages/events/nexus-in-the-field.
- GCS1 · E31April 27 · 59 min
Episode #31: Building a Drought Resilient Grazing Operation Using Perennials and Cover Crops with Kevin Wiltse
Kevin Wiltse is a fifth-generation Kansas farmer who has spent over a decade transitioning from cash cropping to perennial pasture and grazing cover crops for more profitable grazing. Five years into one of the worst droughts in recent memory, his cattle herd is bigger than it's ever been. In this episode, Keith sits down with Kevin to talk through his shift to a forage-based, perennial-centered operation, including how he cut inputs, built grazing infrastructure, and kept his herd intact through drought years that would have broken most operations. Kevin also shares the enterprise economics behind his decision-making, what winning the 2025 Leopold Conservation Award in Kansas means to him, and why he believes this kind of change has to come from within before it can show up on the balance sheet.
- GCS1 · E30April 9 · 59 min
Episode #30: The New American Dream with Rylan Engelhart and Kelly Ryerson
Kelly Ryerson and Ryland Englehart co-founded American Regeneration to close the gap between what the best regenerative farmers know and what policymakers have never heard. In this episode, they share their unlikely journeys — from fighting pesticides and running vegan restaurants — to becoming two of regenerative agriculture's most passionate advocates. They dig into their work connecting soil health, human health, and policy at both the state and federal level. They also preview their upcoming New American Dream Conference in Bandera, Texas, where farmers, doctors, homesteaders, and policymakers will gather around a shared vision of healing the land and the people on it. If you believe a nation that rebuilds its soil rebuilds itself, this conversation is for you.Learn more about the American Regeneration Conference on May 1-2, 2026: https://events.acresusa.com/american-regeneration
- GCS1 · E28March 27 · 1 hr 15 min
Episode #29: The Art of Following Nature’s Design at Alderspring Ranch
Glenn and Carol Elzinga of Alder Spring Ranch were losing cattle to wolves, losing money, and ready to walk away from everything — until they discovered that the answer wasn't new technology or better systems, but going back to the way God designed animals and land to work together. By stopping fighting creation and starting to work with it, they watched their soil organic matter triple, plant diversity explode from just two dominant species to over 80, and beavers come back to restore their waterways. In this episode, Glenn dives deep into the relationship between grazing animals, living roots, and soil biology — and how understanding that connection transformed not just their land, but the quality and flavor of the beef it produces. If you believe the land can do better tomorrow than it does today, this conversation is for you.
- GCS1 · E28March 12 · 54 min
Episode #28 Wide Rows, Deep Roots: Greg Thoren's Regenerative Vision
In this episode, Keith welcomes back Greg Thoren, a regenerative farmer from northwest Illinois, for a highly anticipated follow-up conversation. Greg farms approximately 2,400 acres that are all no-till, non-GMO, and cover cropped. This time around, Keith and Greg discuss Greg's 60-inch row corn system, sharing why the wider row spacing has been a game-changer. Greg has found that 60 inch spacing work better for capturing the sunlight necessary to produce enough forage value to offset the yield tradeoff. Greg also discusses his custom cover crop and forage mixes, and using virtual fence collars with his cattle. Finally, the conversation turns to the future. Greg and his wife have spent decades building a thriving regenerative system on land they're unwilling to watch revert to conventional farming. So rather than selling or renting to the highest bidder, Greg is charting a unique path for transition: bringing in three young families with regenerative mindsets to farm the operation together. Greg's innovative approach extends not only to day-to-day operations on his farm, but to securing its future. It's not just regenerative farming, it's regenerative community building.
- GCS1 · E27February 26 · 1 hr 7 min
Episode #27: Healing Watersheds One Farm at a Time with Abe Collins
In this episode of the Green Cover Podcast, host Keith Berns welcomes Abe Collins of Vermont, an innovative farmer and systems thinker who has spent decades developing tools and practices to rapidly heal degraded land. Abe shares how combining deep rooted plant diversity, custom rip sower technology, and biological inputs can dramatically improve soil health, water infiltration, and drought resilience. The conversation then expands into Abe's compelling vision of "watershed contracting," where farmer cooperatives organize to heal entire watersheds in service to their communities, moving agriculture beyond commodity pricing into a transparent, cost plus model that benefits everyone. If you're passionate about the future of regenerative agriculture and building resilient communities from the ground up, this is an episode you won't want to miss.
- GCS1 · E26February 17 · 1 hr 1 min
Episode #26: Interseeding Cover Crops into Soybeans with Alex Frasier
In this episode, Keith sits down with Alex Frazier, a fourth-generation farmer and agronomist from South Dakota, who has been interseeding cover crops into his soybeans for six years. Alex shares how planting a simple mix of oats, rye, and flax alongside his beans — then terminating it six to eight weeks later — has helped him boost his farm's soybean average from 39 to 52 bushels per acre while reducing phosphorus inputs by 75% and nitrogen by 40%. They dig into the specifics of mix design, spray timing, weed suppression, nutrient cycling, and the surprising soil test that showed higher organic carbon after interseeded beans than after 200-bushel corn. Whether you're looking to build biology in a corn-and-bean rotation or just want a low-cost, low-risk way to start experimenting with regenerative practices, this conversation is packed with practical takeaways. Tune in and learn how a $13–15/acre companion crop investment can pay dividends for your soil and your bottom line.
- GCS1 · E25February 3 · 1 hr
Episode #25: Why Healthy Soils Don't Blow in the Wind with David Kleinschmidt
In this episode, consultant and Illinois farmer David Kleinschmidt discusses the tragic 2023 dust storm on Interstate 55 that claimed seven lives, exploring how it reveals a deeper crisis in soil health. David shares his journey from ag retail to soil health consulting, emphasizing that erosion is fundamentally a biological problem, not just a mechanical one. He offers practical advice on getting started with cover crops, understanding carbon-to-nitrogen ratios, and managing soil aggregation to prevent both wind and water erosion. David also discusses the importance of balancing conservation practices with farm profitability, the future of diverse crop rotations, and why every farmer should read "The Soil Owner's Manual." Whether you're just starting your regenerative agriculture journey or looking to refine your practices, this conversation provides valuable insights on building healthier, more resilient soils.
- GCS1 · E24January 19 · 1 hr 3 min
Episode #24: How Jay Young Eliminated Phosphorus and Still Grows 100 Bushel Corn
Jay Young farms in southwest Kansas, one of the harshest environments to prove regenerative agriculture works. With just 14 to 16 inches of annual rainfall, high winds, and a conventional farming culture, Jay has built a system around grazing cattle on cover crops, eliminated phosphorus for five years, cut nitrogen rates in half, and still produces 100+ bushel corn and milo. In this conversation, Jay breaks down his journey from reluctant farmer to passionate soil health advocate, explains how Johnson Sue compost transformed his operation, and shares practical strategies for making regenerative work in dry climates, from winter grazing systems to ultra low population corn. We also discuss his use of Halter GPS collars for cattle management and how shifting from a success or failure mindset to one of stewardship changed everything about how he farms.Learn more from Jay: / @jyoungregenag Learn how Jay is utilizing Johnson Su to reduce inputs: • Johnson Su Compost: Improving Soil Health ... Talk with the Green Cover team about which cover crop mix is best for your soil health goals: https://greencover.com/get-in-touch/Explore the podcast
- GCS1 · E23January 5 · 59 min
Episode #23: Growing Giant Pumpkins & Boosting Crop Yields with Regen Agronomist Joe Ailts
Joe Ailts is a regenerative agronomist from Wisconsin with an unusual hobby: growing giant pumpkins. In this conversation, Joe breaks down the biological processes he uses to push pumpkins to extreme sizes, from mycorrhizal fungi networks to optimizing plant efficiency at every stage.What makes this interesting is how much of it translates directly to row crop farming. The same principles Joe uses to grow a 2,000 pound pumpkin (building soil biology, managing nutrients strategically, timing cover crops) apply to boosting yields on any farm. We talk about his approach to early maturing soybeans, nutrient management in corn, and why soil health isn't just a buzzword but the foundation of everything that happens aboveground.Get in touch with Joe: https://ailtsagronomy.com/index.php/c...Talk with the Green Cover team about which cover crop mix is best for your soil health goals: https://greencover.com/get-in-touch/