Episode 182: Reclaiming Independence from Corporate Meat with Cole Mannix

Cole Mannix is a multi-generational rancher from central and western Montana who serves as the founder of Old Salt, a vertically integrated startup enterprise. Coming from a background rooted in mountain grazing and extensive holistic management, Cole spent decades working alongside his family and regional producers to optimize ecological function, riparian health, and predator coexistence on their expansive home landscapes. Recognizing the vulnerabilities ranching families face as processing and retail channels become increasingly consolidated, Cole launched Old Salt to construct an alternative ecosystem of localized market power. Under his leadership, Old Salt has grown to incorporate a membership of ranches operating alongside processing hubs, a direct e-commerce engine, local restaurants, and an annual community festival hosted directly on his family's ranch. Cole is dedicated to creating experiential, relational marketplaces that adequately reward producers, support active workforce ownership, and increase the sheer volume of passionate hearts and hands managing the landscape.

In this episode, John and Cole discuss:

• How Cole engineered an LLC model with cooperative principles to access external capital without risking members' family lands.
• Constructing a vertically integrated market to disrupt highly consolidated, downstream corporate meat packing and processing monopolies.
• Establishing regional slaughter facilities and custom restaurants to stabilize profit margins and balance animal carcasses locally.
• Rerouting financial value directly back upstream to give independent ranchers viable financial alternatives to commodity supply chains.
• Why integrating livestock back into modern cropping systems is restricted by structural barriers like missing fences and scarce water infrastructure.
• Creating parallel government incentive programs focused on funding active farm labor rather than subsidizing crop insurance yields.

Additional Resources To learn more about Cole's ranch, please visit: mannixbeef.com To learn more about Old Salt Co Op, please visit: oldsaltco-op.com/ About John Kempf John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it. Through intense study and the knowledge gleaned from many industry leaders, John is building a comprehensive systems-based approach to plant nutrition – a system solidly based on the sciences of plant physiology, mineral nutrition, and soil microbiology. Support For This Show & Helping You Grow Since 2006, AEA has been on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable with regenerative agriculture. AEA works directly with growers to apply its unique line of liquid mineral crop nutrition products and biological inoculants. Informed by cutting-edge plant and soil data-gathering techniques, AEA's science-based programs empower farm operations to meet the crop quality markers that matter the most. AEA has created real and lasting change on millions of acres with its products and data-driven services by working hand-in-hand with growers to produce healthier soil, stronger crops, and higher profits. Beyond working on the ground with growers, AEA leads in regenerative agriculture media and education, producing and distributing the popular and highly-regarded Regenerative Agriculture Podcast, inspiring webinars, and other educational content that serve as go-to resources for growers worldwide. Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products: https://www.advancingecoag.com