Family Values and Stewardship in a Farm Business

0:00 Hey everybody, welcome to the Green Cover podcast where we have really interesting conversations with some of the top farmers and experts in the regenerative movement. Join us together as we learn how to better regenerate, steward, and share God's creation for future generations. This is a special Thanksgiving edition of the Green Cover Podcast and we really want to focus on giving thanks because we have been given so much and we have much to be thankful for. So today we have a special edition with guests today my son Jacen Burns and my nephew Travis Burns. And we're just going to talk a little bit about who we are here at Green Cover and the many things that we're thankful for, including and especially the many customers that we have the privilege of working with. So Jac Travis, welcome to the podcast.

0:49 Yeah, thank you. Yeah, thanks for having us.

0:51 Start out by just giving us a little bit of background. I mean, you guys are family. You grew up here on the farm, but give us just a little background of your journey with Green Cover and your history, the different jobs that you've worked and brought you up to the point where you're at now. So, Travis, go ahead and start us out.

1:10 Yeah, Travis Burns. My dad is Brian Burns, Keith's brother, other founder. Obviously started as a little kid on the farm before Green Cover. Worked on the farm all the time, really enjoyed it. Went to school at CCC in Hastings for diesel technology and graduated with that degree. Came back during school and after to work on the farm really in the maintenance, mechanic facilities role. And did that for solely that for probably five years or something, and then as we've gotten more people and gotten bigger, have moved into more of operations management role. Then have since given up the shop management role to a couple other people and the maintenance facilities to a couple other people. So I'm managing, get to manage people a lot more than I do doing the stuff now. And so now my role is helping manage all the blade and sight for operations, really integrate all the different aspects of operations. I was going to mention something that I took another job off the farm, off Green Cover, probably six years ago or something for only a short period of time, maybe four or five months.

2:31 Perspective of something in a nearby town in Hastings. Gained a lot of perspective on how we have it here, how the company works. You know, working with family can be difficult. Also has a lot of benefits that I think I didn't quite appreciate earlier in life. And so worked off the operation for a little while and then came back in a slightly different role. But I think that was really good for me to gain some perspective, work for somebody else, encouraging, you know, other people to do that if you are in a family business solely to take a little bit of time and do that. But yeah, really happy with the role I'm in right now. I get to do a lot of people eating, which I enjoy.

3:15 Yeah. And we're thankful to have you back. And it's interesting, you know, the journey that God has led you on to, you know, going to school for diesel technology, but now really working with people and managing people and you're very good at that and you enjoy that and just it's neat to see, you know, that circle that you've been on. So.

3:34 Jacin, how about you? What's your story?

3:36 Yeah, so similar growing up on the farm as you mentioned. So, you know, when Green Cover started in 2008, 2009, 2010, really getting going, I was 12, 13, 14 years old. So my first job I feel like was at Green Cover where I was actually, you know, helpful and beneficial to who I was working for. So, I remember, you know, sewing bags of seed, well, actually, not even sewing, tying 50 lb bags of seed with a zip tie, which I can't imagine doing now, but humble beginnings. Driving a forklift when I was probably 14 years old, too young to be driving. You know.

4:07 Caveat, we may or may not have been following all the OSHA rules in those early years.

4:12 Yeah. Yeah. But we are now.

4:14 Thankful for all those times. I really enjoyed doing the operations work, if you will, and did that for all the, you know, teenage years, but getting later into high school and upper teenage years, just trying to decide what I wanted to continue growing in and different things like that. So, graduated high school 2014 and then that following, you know, fall of 2014, actually before starting full-time college, I took a few online classes at the community college. But took an.

4:39 Internship at Jonathan Cobbs in Texas. And so that was a really good experience for me. Not being on a farm environment, but down in Texas, just a different region, seeing cash crops I've never seen before, and was able to drive a tractor quite a bit, work with cattle, but just get introduced in a different way to regenerative farming, some different things like that. I went with Jonathan's family to a holistic management institute. So that was really cool too. Just learned a lot, continue to grow, but yeah, that was just for one semester. Then came back in the beginning of 2015 and started full-time college, just got an associates degree in agriculture business at the community college in Hastings.

5:22 So then I was still kind of trying to figure out what was next, and turns out what was next for me for this little chapter was going through cancer treatment. So that was in 2015 and yeah testicular cancer and it was a little bit scary because it was a reoccurrence as well. So that kind of led into 2016 and some chemo treatments, different things like that. But I sit here now with you three beautiful kids. And so just reflecting on the Lord's faithfulness.

5:47 And I think one thing I learned through that time was just growing up and being where normally you'd want to be an independent young man, which is good and there's some good qualities of that. But also, you know, just recognizing my total need and dependence. And so that was just a journey that I was taken on. And so then I guess the same question after that was kind of taken care of was what was next.

6:10 And so my off the farm, not job like Travis had, but I decided to go on a six-month admissions trip with a youth organization called Youth with a Mission or YWAM. And so that was a kind of a schooling setup. So half of it was a school or like in-class book reports training phase. So that was actually in Switzerland, the first YWAM base. That was neat. But then the second phase was in Central Asia and a country called Kyrgyzstan. And so there we did more of what you would think with missions work and stuff like that. But one of the main lessons and I'll connect this back to green cover and the family business is one of the main lessons I learned was trusting authority.

6:51 Respecting authority, listening to leadership. And so one of the things that I did not do was follow all the rules. And we decided as a team as we went on the outreach phase to not have like the SIM cards for our phones or not have cell coverage. And then halfway through me and a few other team members decided to go get a really cheap SIM card and have a cell connection and talk to our friends back at home and stuff like that. But then I was convicted to confront that and tell our leaders and it was a growing experience and it ended up being really well. That was just a deep thing of me not fully recognizing it until that moment of, you know, not always just maybe thinking my own way was better and not being able to communicate very well with leadership and stuff like that.

7:40 Coming back to the farm and coming back to Nebraska, coming back to the United States, I recognized I didn't do that well with the family business either. And so that was just a huge growth moment of recognizing my dad, my uncle, other people in the company. And so from that point on, slowly but surely began to respect and have more trust in leadership and stuff like that. And so slowly but surely becoming more of a leader in the company, but I feel like I had to go through that first.

8:09 After that, you know, I thought that trip would give me a huge calling of exactly what I wanted to do, exactly what I was going to do, but that didn't really happen. And I think that was intentional on the Lord's behalf of just teaching me to walk in daily obedience, not having a big call. But eventually decided to step more into sales in Green Cover and in 2019 moved to Mississippi. And so I started full-time sales, full-time remote and full-time married. That's the time I got married too. So everything was new and grew a lot there.

8:40 We stayed there for 2 and 1/2 years in Mississippi and then came back. And so that was good, still involved in Green Cover but also being able to be away and kind of my own family starting our own things. But we came back to Nebraska, started having kids and things like that but also wanted to grow in my own leadership in the company, help the company the best I could. And so we decided that made more sense to come back to Nebraska and so that's kind of where I am at now.

9:08 Leading the sales team in the company and doing my own sales and just being able to help serve our customers in the best ways I can.

9:16 Well, we're thankful to have you both back and we're thankful for I know there were a lot of people as Jacob was going through his battle with cancer. There was a lot of people, a lot of the Green Cover customer family that were praying for him and I still every once in a while I'll have somebody just email and say, 'Hey, how's your son doing?' And it's like, 'Oh, yeah. It's great.' And so, so thank you to know, it's it really does feel like a family, extended family with our customer base.

9:41 Well, so both of you are on the leadership team. You're integral part of Green Cover and leading the company and helping set direction and vision for the company, but you know, as we're a family business and we kind of have this theme of thankfulness going here, what are one or two aspects of working in a family business that you're thankful for? So, Jacen, we'll start with you on this one.

10:04 Yeah, I think even just zooming out a little bit and just recognizing what it is and realizing that's not always the norm and actually probably more of a rare case than it is a common case of just the family aspect and families, multiple families working together, being aligned on core beliefs, core values, our mission of regenerating God's creation and just serving others. It's a powerful thing and you know you see a lot in agriculture or many other industries you just see a lot of splits, you see a lot of conflict and not that there never is conflict here but just being able to work together. I felt like you just been reflecting on that of not taking that for granted and just being, you know, what it is with, you know, you and Brian, even grandma and grandpa over the years, just kind of releasing a lot of that to you guys. And then down the line with siblings and cousins, just, yeah, the overall beauty that it is that it has stayed together and that it will continue to do so. And just being grateful for that.

11:06 Yeah, I think echo a lot of things Jacen said. I think something that has set apart our family, our company is the ability to have some of that conflict on decisions and maybe direction.

11:20 Know, we're very solid on the core beliefs and the foundations and what we are going after. But some of the little things, we can have conflict, we can as leadership team, we can debate and discuss and I think that's okay. And I think when you don't have any of that conflict, then there's things underneath the underline that don't get addressed or don't get talked about and then it inhibits growth.

11:46 Just very grateful to be able to work for you, for my dad, but then with everybody. I guess I don't feel like I work for somebody. I feel like we all are kind of working towards the same mission, working for ourselves, but able to do it in the context of a family, bigger family. People that have our same last name, but people that we work with every day on the green cover team, extending to customers, to vendors. It's just very, it's definitely a core value that I see a lot, and even people that we've interviewed or have worked here and have left have come back to me and said like that core value really stands out.

12:27 So that kind of leads me into my next question. And you talk about core values and we've got a set of core values here at Green Cover and one of them is called family matters and a lot of times when people first see that they're not exactly sure what that means but it's one of the things that we hire around that we promote around that is really important to us. So tell us a little bit about what does that core value of family matters mean to each one of you. Travis we'll have you start since you kind of introduced the subject.

12:57 So I get to do in my job, I get to do a lot of interviewing people for positions here and going through the core values and get to the family matters one. The way I explain it is not only does my family and your family, Jacob's family matter. Each one of our individual families, but then the team that you work with that is the green cover family and then extending out. And so we expect people to give and take, when people have a thing going on in their family, whether it's a crisis or something exciting that they want to do, fill in for people, and vice versa. I just have seen that really take place. You know, I feel super comfortable to be.

13:40 Able to take a day off or leave early or, you know, if I have something with my kids or my wife or family and knowing that that will be reciprocated to the people around me, I'm going to fill in for somebody else when they have something. And so, I think it's something that really makes us unique and that we don't just say it's a core value, but we will go above and beyond to do our best to make sure people can be at their family events or if there's a crisis or something, you know, just no questions asked, just go and handle it. And I think that's something that I've seen it really impact people especially if they come from a place that that wasn't a core value at all or just you know work is the only important thing and just understanding that there's more important things than work. And it's the reason we're all doing working hard every day is towards that goal.

14:30 Jake and we just recently had our sales and marketing team annual planning and it was interesting when we had all those people in the room and most of them you know other than me are pretty young. Talk a little bit about how cool it was you know when people were just reporting on life events. How many people had gotten married or had a baby or had some you know got engaged had a significant life change and how does that play into that value of family matters?

14:57 Yeah, that was cool to see. I think there was like eight out of the 10 or something like that that stood up when I think David asked how many people have either had a kid or got married or had you know some other kind of big life event like that in the last year is all and so almost all of us stood up you know it's the age that most of our team is at of either yeah starting their life together with their spouse or having more kids and different things like that. So yeah, it's cool because we have that connection with the sales team. We feel like more than just co-workers, more than just peers in a family in a way are very close friends. And so in the similar life stage of kind of learning and growing together I've given a couple parenting books to some of the people on the team and they've given me lots of advice and so it's just a back and forth aspect that I feel like does kind of go into the family matters. So, yeah, that is that is cool thing to see.

17:58 Think makes a big difference. You know, we talked to our people about, hey, if you see somebody walking around doesn't look like they know where they're supposed to be or need to be loaded, you know, stop what you're doing, walk with them, walk them through the office. You know, we don't want anybody to get hurt or be where they're not supposed to be, but also we want people to feel like, you know, they were engaged and treated right.

18:20 Just last week I was when was a guest speaker at a university class for one of the professors up there and she had been at one of our field days a couple years ago and I had completely forgot about this. She brought up how when she was at the field day, she had a low tire that was going flat and how the shop guys, well, they just took her car and they took the tire off and they didn't just pump it up, they fixed it. They took it off, they put a patch on it and she's just she still remembers that and she's very grateful and thankful for that. And I know that's not the only instance where that's happened, but yeah, we we we try to do that.

18:55 So, you know, our purpose here at Green Cover, you know, like we've mentioned, is to regenerate, steward, and share God's creation for future generations. And that the whole concept of of regenerating, you know, there's a there's a flavor of of stewardship of not only just taking care of what we've been given, but but making it better, improving it.

19:16 So, as we kind of wind down this this podcast episode, I want you to maybe just talk a little bit about how working at Green Cover has changed your opinion or enhanced your your thoughts around stewardship. What does that mean to you and how does that tie into being thankful as well? So, Jacen, what's your thoughts on on that?

19:39 Yeah, so my role over the years with Green Cover is working with a lot of our customers. We've already mentioned that, but one of my favorite things about regenerative a in general is the the way it can build resiliency on farms. And so being able to withstand, you know, harsher weather patterns or economic differences and things like that or struggles. And so I think good stewardship can lead to that resiliency. And so I've learned so much from the people that we've worked with and just being a small part in their operation of helping to advise on cover.

20:10 Crop mixes or rotations and things like that. It's not the only thing. Cover crops are just a tool in the toolbox, but taking a step towards regenerative or just better resiliency, soil health, all the above. And so yeah, just helping being a small part in the stewardship of some of their operations. And so when I was thinking about stewardship lately, I think it's both offensive and defensive. You know, you have to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, type of thing. You know, we think about financial stewardship. Sometimes that means you should go aggressively and make that investment. Sometimes you definitely need to hold still and not do that. So knowing when to take a leap and when not to. And the same thing with stewarding relationships and different things like that, with kids or a team or a one-on-one relationship, knowing when to push in or kind of hold back, different things like that. I think one of the things I've been thinking about also with stewardship is that it's not ego-driven. Stewardship is humility. And so making that decision based on what's best for the team or what's best for my family or what's best for the company or the farm is not something that has to be my decision. Maybe that comes from his decision or her decision and vice versa. And so the lack of ego, I think, is what really breeds to solid stewardship. So that's kind of my thoughts lately.

21:34 Yeah, I love how you brought up regenerative agriculture is more than just soil health. And we talk about the six principles of soil health and those are great and we try to follow them and we try to teach them, but I don't like it when people say those are the principles of regenerative agriculture because they're part of regenerative agriculture but regenerative agriculture goes way way beyond soil health and into the relationships and regenerating restoring stewarding those relationships like you talked about.

22:01 Travis what does the whole concept of stewardship mean to you? Yeah. To me, and this something I've been thinking about a lot recently, similar to Jake and actually very close to Jake and have three kids that are very same ages. And my wife and I have made the decision to move back.

22:17 To this area on some ground in the next couple years and build a house and because you're in Hastings now about 30 miles away. Yep. So working here, but commuting. And so just reprioritizing what we want things to look like 10, 15, 30 years from now. And so to me, stewardship is the long view. You know, being able to see out there, not just what do I have to do today or what are the things I have to take care of today. You have to do that, but you also have to have a bigger perspective. And so to me, stewardship is not just one aspect of your life. You can't be a good steward in your work and then not steward your marriage or your relationship with your kids or relationship with your friends or not steward your health. And so it has to be very holistic. You have to have that bigger perspective and that takes time and learning how to do that. But we were actually just in one of our annual plannings the other day talking about this concept of stewardship. And I don't even know if we realized we were talking about it, but in how we take care of things, whether it's vehicles or the equipment we're using for the operations team or how we're keeping our areas clean and things like that. It all ties into how you were viewing that stewardship concept and are you stewarding what God gave you versus stewarding what you've been placed in responsibility for. And so to me, it's just that holistic view of what do I want things to look like? What is what I'm doing today going to impact 10 years from now? So that's definitely where my mind's been at recently with stewardship.

23:49 I like that thought of stewardship being not just one aspect of your life, but all. David, our CEO, taught me, but then recently I've been hearing on different podcasts that the root word of integrity is integer, which just means one full, you know, one whole. Yeah. One unit, it's a whole. And so not just half over here, but not over here. So that's a good thought. Yeah. Looking at how all that ties together. You know, again, as we reflect on the season of giving thanks, which I mean should be every day, but you know, we really focus on it during the Thanksgiving season. I know I find in my own life that times where I am probably the least thankful, maybe even bitter, maybe, you know, kind of have that.

24:32 Entitlement mentality. It's the times when I'm not doing much to give to others, when I'm not serving others. But when I am doing that, you know, when I do go help at, you know, the Crossroads Rescue Shelter or we go on a missions trip or you just go outside of yourself to invest in others, that's where you find the thankfulness partially because you're grateful for what you have. You see things differently, but you're also just grateful for the ability to work with others.

25:02 So I would just encourage people as they're listening to this that first of all be thankful for all the things that we have. We have been blessed with so much you know in this country you know with the freedoms that we have the access to so many different things. Even just access to seed as you know we get requests from people from other countries for us to ship them seed. It's very difficult to do but they can't find just regular cover crop seed and we just take that for granted. There's so much we take for granted here.

25:30 So be thankful, but also take some time during this season to go out and to serve others. Go outside yourself. You know, give both your time and your money. Not just your money, but also your time. Give to other people and it will change your attitudes towards thankfulness and your opinions about stewardship.

25:52 So we just want to wish everybody a very happy Thanksgiving. We are grateful that each one of you are part of the Green Cover extended family and we're just thankful that you've watched this episode of the Green Cover podcast.

26:04 My brother and I started Green Cover in 2009 because we understand what it's like to be a farmer starting out on the journey to improve soil health. We saw the power of plant and biological diversity on our own farm here in Nebraska, but we found that it was difficult to get the right cover crop seed mix. We also learned that there was a big learning curve in successfully implementing cover crops.

26:26 That's why we built Green Cover so that farmers like you can access the highest quality cover crop seed put into the right diverse mixes along with the technical advice and the educational resources to help you successfully implement cover crops on your own operation.

26:42 So contact us today and we'll help you with the right cover crop mix for your farm or ranch so you can regenerate your portion of God's creation for future generations.