Brian Berns
Co-Founder / Farm Manager
Brian Berns is a Co-Founder and current Farm Manager at Green Cover. He grew up on the home place where Green Cover is located. Brian graduated high school in 1986 and pursued a degree in Diversified Ag from Southeast Community College. In 1988, Brian graduated from college, married Christi and moved his new family back to the farm. There they raised their 4 kids and took over much of the day to day farming operations.
Brian was instrumental in bringing no-till practices to the farm in 1989. Over the years both Keith and Brian became more involved in organizations such as No-Till on the Plains. Those organizations led to connections with people like Gabe Brown and other leaders in the regenerative agriculture space. Brian began learning more about cover crops through articles and conference speakers and in 2008, with the help of a SARE grant, experimented with cover crop mixes on the farm. Through his experimentation, the idea of a cover crop seed company that specialized in custom mixes was born and the team of brothers started Green Cover in 2009. Brian also introduced composting to the farm in 2014 and enjoys experimenting with various biological treatments. Today two of Brian’s sons and one son in law works for the family business.
In his free time, Brian enjoys spending time with family, most notably, his 11 grandchildren. He recently built a 4 acre pond that will be stocked with fish, creating an outdoor space for friends and family to gather, enjoy creation and build community. His passion is for people and land to flourish as the Creator intended.