Episode 175: Wild-Range Metabolomics and Nutrient Density with Glenn Elzinga
Regenerative Agriculture Podcast
AEA Marketing
4.7 • 546 Ratings
🗓️ 26 March 2026
⏱️ 101 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Glenn Elzinga is a seasoned rancher who has spent 34 years managing Alderspring Ranch in the wild, high-country landscapes of Idaho. Growing up on conventional farms that relied heavily on chemicals and formulaic business models, Glenn's career shifted dramatically after a "clobber over the head" moment forced him to innovate to survive. Today, he and his family manage 47,000 acres of wilderness rangeland, where they have pioneered "inheritance grazing" by living with their cattle 24-7 on horseback to coexist with wolves and maximize plant diversity.
By collaborating with researchers like Dr. Stephan van Vliet, he has provided empirical evidence that grazing cattle on diverse wild ranges produces beef with significantly higher anti-inflammatory and antioxidant compounds compared to feedlot alternatives. His work emphasizes the "nutritional wisdom" of animals and the importance of vertical enterprise stacking to create a profitable, multi-generational future for regenerative agriculture.
In this episode, John and Glenn discuss:
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The shift from formulaic commodity agriculture to the "Wild West" of the regenerative space.
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How maintaining human presence on the ground allows ranchers to coexist with predators like wolves.
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The results of metabolomics research comparing wild-range beef to feedlot beef.
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The concept of nutritional wisdom and how cattle self-select plants for preventative medicine.
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Why handling cattle with a focus on their left-eye perception reduces stress and improves performance.
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Moving from horizontal expansion to vertical stacking to bring the next generation into agriculture.
Additional Resources
To learn more about Glenn and Alderspring ranch, please visit: https://www.alderspring.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
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, friends. This is John. Welcome to the regenerative agriculture podcast where we have all kinds of fun conversations related to regenerating soil health and plant health and public health. It's quite an honor to have Glenn Elzinga join me here on the podcast. Many times you're familiar with I do an introduction, allow people to kind of introduce themselves. This time, Glenn and I were connected, started having a conversation, and the conversation |
| 0:25.3 | immediately went from basic introductions and how are you into this awesome conversation about |
| 0:30.3 | cattle psychology, some of the things that Glenn is working on, things that he's thinking |
| 0:34.3 | about. |
| 0:35.1 | And I realized that I need to get the record button pressed |
| 0:38.7 | and we need to start recording this awesome conversation. So we just simply jumped directly |
| 0:44.8 | into a conversation. We didn't give a great deal of introduction to Glenn's operation. Glenn, |
| 0:49.9 | of course, is very widely known in the livestock grazing space. But for those of you not familiar with his operation, Glenn and his family operate Elder Spring |
| 0:58.1 | Ranch. |
| 0:59.1 | And you can find a lot more information available about them online that I can tell you very briefly. |
| 1:04.1 | But the important part, Glenn is working on some very interesting things related to livestock handling and management, |
| 1:12.2 | but I think you'll find very fascinating. |
| 1:14.7 | Without any further ado, here's Glenn. |
| 1:17.5 | I've been at this 34 years, and the stuff I'm still picking up is, you know, stuff that |
| 1:23.6 | is life-changing revelations. |
| 1:27.7 | And a lot of it is just from looking at the land and looking at the cattle. |
| 1:31.5 | But, you know, I've been bumping into some of these stockmanship things. |
| 1:34.9 | You know, we could talk about some of these things like this cortisol thing and cattle. |
| 1:39.1 | And oh, gosh, it just, it has taken me to brand new places. |
| 1:43.2 | And I don't have answers. |
| 1:44.2 | I just got questions, John. |
| 1:46.1 | So I should be actually interviewing you. |
... |
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