Davey Baron on Entrepreneurship

After working on ranches in the Elk River Valley in northwest Colorado for a handful of years, Davey Baron had the jaw-dropping opportunity to start his own grazing and direct market beef business, and he pounced on it. In this episode of Regeneration Rising, host Taylor Muglia speaks with Davey about how he laid the groundwork for this opportunity to become Elk River Livestock, what life looks like in year two of running his own business, and how a strong community allowed him to build a lean enterprise. He shares that his experience in starting a business isn’t exactly as cool as it seems, but a deep love of land and animals drives him to keep innovating and thinking outside the box to keep it growing.

Please note: Davey will be a new MENTOR for the New Agrarian Program in 2025! If you liked this conversation and are considering applying to our apprenticeship program, you can find his site description at https://quiviracoalition.org/newagrarian/locations/.

Music attribution:
A Folk Story by Alex Cristoforetti

Shownotes

1:06 Quivira’s announcements
3:37 introducing today’s guest
5:17 How Davey found agriculture
10:57 Davey’s operation in Clark, CO
14:31 securing land in sought after Colorado
21:24 next steps after his employer offered the leased land
26:37 starting a business in a community you didn’t grow up in 
28:55 using USDA/NRCS programs
32:38 what surprised Davey when running this operation
35:58 the struggles of running a business
41:16 how Davey manages burnout
44:58 what’s next
49:31 rapid questions round

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