Upstream Farms with Matt & Joe Brugger

Engler Entrepreneurship Program Author

10/24/2018 Added

267 Plays

Description

Meet Matt and Joe Brugger, two enthusiastic and passionate farmer-preneurs from Albion, NE. After graduating in May 2019 with a minor in the Engler Program, Matt and Joe plan to return to their rural community where they will continue working on their business, Upstream Farms. Check out their story!

Searchable Transcript

Search:

[00:00:00.058](quiet music)
[00:00:03.190]The quote is if you love what you do,
[00:00:05.012]you'll never work a day in your life.
[00:00:06.776]But saying you'll never work a day
[00:00:08.090]in your life is totally false.
[00:00:09.480]You're going to work 10 times harder
[00:00:11.540]then you ever would if you didn't love it.
[00:00:13.810]My name is Matt Brugger, I'm the Lead Livestock Speacialist
[00:00:16.220]at Upstream Farms.
[00:00:17.309]I am a co-founder as well.
[00:00:19.290]My name is Joseph Brugger.
[00:00:20.540]I'm a co-founder of Upstream as well as the Agronomist
[00:00:24.030]for Upstream Farms.
[00:00:25.220]There was kind of two sides of that.
[00:00:26.750]The first side of it is just boot to the ground,
[00:00:28.830]doing scouting, pretty much once a week,
[00:00:30.620]and making sure that not only are we raising
[00:00:33.050]our feeds in the most sustainable way possible
[00:00:35.810]but also consulting other farmers as well.
[00:00:39.190]My job is to take those high quality forges and
[00:00:41.270]feeds that we raise and turn them into the highest
[00:00:43.820]quality possible beef.
[00:00:45.530]We raise Angus cattle and then also on the business side
[00:00:48.270]sell retail beef right direct to customers as well
[00:00:50.690]as several breweries and the
[00:00:51.780]University of Nebraska Athletic Department.
[00:00:54.050]And then we raise hops and we market hops to
[00:00:56.740]those breweries as well so then they can locally
[00:00:58.560]source as many of their ingredients as possible
[00:01:00.620]straight from our farm.
[00:01:02.700]When we started this thing,
[00:01:03.533]we said hey, it's gonna be an intersection
[00:01:04.950]of everything that we love.
[00:01:06.438]I loved having the conversations about why does music
[00:01:08.440]and agriculture and this business really work well together.
[00:01:11.290]Well, I think it's us.
[00:01:13.640]Running your hand through the leaves, picking up that dirt
[00:01:16.020]and letting it fall through your fingers is the exact
[00:01:17.760]same thing as feeling the wood and the grains on your
[00:01:21.130]drumstick because you're getting ready
[00:01:22.440]to play that first downbeat.
[00:01:23.870]And people don't look at that that way
[00:01:25.690]but like I said, that is your craft.
[00:01:28.000]I went to college to learn how to learn
[00:01:29.530]and I'm gonna continue to learn for the rest of my life.
[00:01:31.060]I think that I don't know all of the answers.
[00:01:33.360]Being a professional has nothing to do with
[00:01:35.220]being perfect at what you're doing.
[00:01:36.750]You might have mastered your craft but mastering your
[00:01:38.750]craft entails a lot of continual education.
[00:01:41.950]For me, regardless whether that's playing my guitar,
[00:01:45.490]or trying to save a calf's life, when you're doing
[00:01:47.850]both of those things, you get the same
[00:01:49.010]feeling at the end of the day.
[00:01:49.940]And so, if I could create a business that allows me
[00:01:52.450]to feel that in every aspect and it's a complete reflection
[00:01:55.610]of those things that make me smile, that makes me a little
[00:01:58.430]more happy and that's all I really cared about when
[00:02:00.020]it came to starting Upstream was how can I feel that
[00:02:02.450]in everything I do the rest of my life.
[00:02:05.240]I think agriculture is a really beautiful thing.
[00:02:07.260]I think that farmers are the most talented people
[00:02:09.020]in the world, but there's also there's this other part
[00:02:11.040]that's not perfect.
[00:02:12.790]We're not always smiling at the end of the day.
[00:02:14.550]Sometimes we're crying.
[00:02:15.750]Whether that's the farm dog died
[00:02:17.420]or a crop got completely hailed out.
[00:02:20.290]We can't show people this grit, we're not first of all
[00:02:23.670]being authentic, but then people don't actually get
[00:02:25.650]to see every part of it.
[00:02:28.280]Either way, those experiences and being able to interact
[00:02:31.580]with those customers is super rewarding.
[00:02:33.380]And it's this consumer producer relationship
[00:02:35.760]that I've craved since we started talking about business.
[00:02:40.290]We've grown up together, you know, for 22 years knowing
[00:02:43.850]literally everything about each other and every button
[00:02:46.780]that you can push to make each other mad.
[00:02:48.907]But at the same sense, it's one of those things where you
[00:02:50.890]want people to see you as separate people.
[00:02:53.320]What came out of it was a business that
[00:02:55.250]used both of our strengths and complimented our weaknesses
[00:02:58.720]and we were able to have our own entities of it and
[00:03:01.440]be able to be focused in that, but also find something
[00:03:04.660]that we both are really passionate about
[00:03:06.030]and have that common goal to always come back to.
[00:03:09.820]The first part of our college career I think we
[00:03:11.860]thought we needed to start things just to start them
[00:03:14.030]because everybody else was and it was a competitive thing.
[00:03:16.250]And we went down a few rabbit holes
[00:03:18.340]trying to start businesses that we weren't necessarily
[00:03:21.060]passionate about and so honestly, starting Upstream,
[00:03:24.482]I could use adjectives like scary or exciting.
[00:03:27.520]What it was was more like a relief.
[00:03:29.580]Finally, we found something that we
[00:03:31.340]feel fits who we are as people.
[00:03:34.490]When we're in a room and working together
[00:03:36.000]and we are clicking, and we work quick and we work fast,
[00:03:39.280]and we work efficiently and I miss those things when I'm
[00:03:41.350]working on ventures aside from Upstream.
[00:03:43.370]So I think I feel like I have the best
[00:03:44.440]business partner in the world.

The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!

You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.

Comments

0 Comments

Upstream Farms with Matt & Joe Brugger

Description

Searchable Transcript

Comments icon comment

Related Channels

Comments