Introducing Russ Conser

[Russ]

Hi all!

My name is Russ Conser. I live in Fulshear, TX with my wife, Nancy, and our 3 fine sons. I’m likely to be an unusual one here, as although I grew up in a farm state (Omaha, Nebraska), and was educated in another (Iowa State University), but I am neither a farmer or rancher. I became an engineer and joined the oil and gas industry where I just completed a 30 year career with Shell. Most recently, I led a program called ‘GameChanger’ where it was our day job to invest in people with crazy ideas (mostly technical) that could have high impact on the energy industry.

A short while ago, I decided to retire from corporate life while still young and healthy and get more involved in the broader community of innovators and entrepreneurs outside the corporate walls who were trying to change the games of not only energy, but water and food as well. In that light, I am presently on the board of a novel compressor technology startup (StarRotor), am a mentor at Houston’s "Surge Accelerator’, sit on the board of advisors for a newly forming Texas water technology accelerator (AccelerateH2O), and have deeply become involved in the subject of ‘soil carbon’ – the link that brought me to the Grassfed Exchange.

On the way out the door of my corporate career, I heard about this seemingly crazy idea that we could put very material volumes of carbon back in soils by changing how we manage livestock. Funny enough, in my early oil and gas career, my specialty was running and interpreting the instruments to measure carbon (solid, liquid and gas) in the deep earth, so the idea was in my wheelhouse. I set off to see if I could find data to support this possibility, and that’s when I first had the pleasure of meeting many of you. Although in my view there is not a lot of rigor in the carbon data we have so far, I did find measurements that indicated great promise.

Perhaps more importantly, I also found a small, but rapidly growing community of farmers and ranchers just getting after it as it made sense for their own businesses. I’ve since become involved in several related projects to further build up a body of scientific evidence, but even moreso, start developing more innovative business ideas that could help accelerate the dessimination of these practices….

…thus the Grassfed Exchange. I had the honor of speaking at the GFE conference in Columbia, MO this summer, and was subsequently invited to become more involved in the community by joining the organizing committee. I accepted as I see the Grassfed Exchange as one of the most effective organizations for replicating the knowledge and best practices to fundamentally change how we manage land. I firmly believe that success not only means more carbon in the soil, but healthy businesses in our rural economies and healthier food on everyone’s plates – another subject I am deeply passionate about and involved in.

As much as I truly enjoy getting to know y’all at the annual conferences, I look forward to using this online forum to both grow the community and accelerate the sharing of practical knowledge all year long. I hope that I can share a few things of interest from time to time, but I know for sure I will learn a lot.

I look forward to talking with all of you…

[abecollins]

Great to have this background and to work with you, Russ.