(gentle music) (upbeat music) Crustaceans in cow country.

Root research that's helping grow corn more efficiently.

Twin brothers taking a different approach to agriculture Dishing out gelato.and girl power.

"What If..." (upbeat music) Welcome to my backyard.

We've turned this episode of "What If..." into a cooking show.

Because, why not.

There's lots of Nebraska innovation and creativity when it comes to the stuff we produce and eat.

Like these shrimp... (wind blows) (metal clanks against flag pole) (shrimp flopping) - [Mike] So I'm curious, being a shrimp farmer in rural Nebraska, what are the jokes that never get old?

- Oh yeah, we, we hear a little bit of everything, but a lot of people will say, well, I bet this is better than hogs.

- [Mike] Rock Creek Aquaculture is no joke though, a long ways from the Pacific Ocean, Scott Pretzer raises Pacific white shrimp in an old hog building.

- We started Rock Creek Aquaculture a little over three years ago, to help diversify the operation and repurpose the building that we're in.

I practice part-time still as a veterinarian.

- Veterinarian school doesn't really cover shrimp a lot.

- Not at all, not at all, so this is completely different.

(upbeat music) - [Mike] Here's how it works: Pretzer buys tiny shrimp larvae from a hatchery and raises them in tanks of salt water, moving them by hand to different tanks a few times as they grow for five months.

- [Scott] So these are only a couple of weeks old.

("Mischief" by Connor McConnell) So these guys are our harvest ready shrimp.

- [Mike] There's daily feedings of 3,000 shrimp in each tank.

I got to help.

So they're going to jump, right?

- [Scott] Well, they're going to come to the surface.

- [Mike] Nah they're full.

And daily testing of the water.

- These shrimp are not easy to raise, the water can be tricky to manage.

- [Mike] Tell me what you're doing.

- [Speaker] So with this meter here, we call it the wand, I'm just measuring the dissolved oxygen, salinity, and temperature in Celsius of the tanks.

I dip it in and I get a good sample of the water, and basically you can see here, it measures how much feed is left over from the previous day, or based on if it's really fluffy, it's a bacteria.

And so this meter here is just a pH, simple pH meter.

We have less going down the drain than a household, and we have a lot of water in here.

And so we recycle all of our water, and we can raise shrimp antibiotic free.

- [Mike] It's a labor-intense, family operation with Reid and his sister helping out.

- My part is the marketing, So I'm usually in Lincoln, talking to chefs and stuff like that, talking to restaurants.

- [Mike] COVID had killed that part of the business when we visited.

For now, everything is sold from here, and it's going well.

They try to get 100 pounds of fresh, never frozen shrimp out door weekly, And you end up selling everything you have?

- [Scott] Yes.

- [Mike] All the time?

- Yes.

(upbeat music) - [Mike] A few years ago, Scott Pretzer was reading a farm magazine.

Among the usual articles about row crops, was the story of an Indiana farmer raising shrimp.

It was a light bulb moment.

They traveled east, checked it out and became the first producer like this in Nebraska.

A couple of other shrimp operations, also in rural areas have opened since.

- The first batch was exciting, scary, all the emotions all into one.

Diversity's important in any operation, but in agriculture especially, you've got commodity markets bouncing around.

We have the land, we have the space, we have the building, and so it allowed us to think about diversifying, and diversifying in a little different way.

We try shrimp all the time, different recipes.

- [Mike] Boiled with a garlic scampi dipping sauce is one of their favorites.

So is just 30 seconds in boiling water, no extra seasoning, enjoying the natural flavor of Nebraska shrimp.

- [Scott] We're creating a different product for an area that wasn't receiving a product.

It's fresher, also more wholesome in a sustainable operation, and so the innovation is making all that work.

- [Mike] Fresh shrimp from Diller, Nebraska.

- [Scott] That's right.

[Mike] By the way, this is Rock Creek's lime scampi shrimp recipe.

Because,ya know,cooking show.

This goes by a different couple names, as you'll see.

And most produced in here Nebraska isn't grilled, but, ya know, we've got a theme going here.

A UNL research effort wants to produce this more efficiently, by looking at stuff you can't see.

- [Mike] First, let's get a few things straight.

We call it corn, scientists call it maize.

- When you say maize people around the world, know what you're talking about.

- This is soil, not dirt.

So you're really attacking the role of the root and its relationship with dirt and water and such.

- Soil.

- Soil, so why - Dirt is dirty.

- [Mike] Dirt is dirty.

We don't say dirt, - No.

- [Mike] And there's a lot happening in the soil below the maize.

That's what this story is about.

How roots feeding and supporting the above ground part of the plant interact with millions of microorganisms below.

How Ed Cahoon and Center for Root and Rhizobiome Innovation colleagues from different disciplines and different institutions, including UNL, UNMC, and Doane, are tackling this from different angles.

(gentle music) [Ed] There's really this growing interest in the microbiome, the plant microbiome.

But I think that we're a little bit unique in that we bring a bigger group together to study, not just the microbiome, but also the roots and how the roots and the microbiome interact to have some effect on plant biology.

Roots in general are really understudied because compared to the rest of the plant, you can't see them.

They're in the soil.

So it's hard to look at the structure of the roots.

- [Mike] Just how hard?

We got a lesson from students who spent a week digging up 3000 maize plants.

So, how do we do this?

- So we start off, you take a little pair of shears, - [Mike] Okay, - [Isaac] You take a shovel in order to get the whole root ball out of there.

- [Mike] Okay.

- [Isaac] Break it apart, all that dirt out of there, and we want to get at those roots.

- [Mike] Okay.

So I'm just gonna slam this like this.

- [Isaac] Oh yeah.

- When you're doing this in the summer for about one or two hundred, you get a little worn out?

(laughs) - Oh yeah.

You take your shears.

- [Mike] Okay.

- [Isaac] You take your vial, and you cut those roots off and you put them inside the vial.

- [Mike] Okay.

- You see all this wonderful soil that's associated with all these roots, there's millions of microbes in here.

And these microbes do a lot of work for the plants too, not just for themselves.

And so they can really free up that nitrogen for the plants so that they can grow much better.

- A lot of kind of mystery, hidden in these roots, isn't there?

- Absolutely, tons of mystery.

It's like the wild west.

- [Mike] Then this goes back to the lab, okay.

There we go.

To the lab where freezing preserves the soil samples.

- [Voice] Excuse me, samples.

- [Mike] To a cool room for overnight thawing to the hands of folks like Michael Meier.

He adds what's basically soap.

- Just shake it vigorously to shake the soil off the roots.

And this is what comes off, which contains all the bacteria we want.

Transfer this soil to this 96 hole tube.

This will fit into a robot that extracts DNA for us.

This DNA we'll send for sequencing.

Once we get the DNA sequences back, we can read that essentially like a book and it will tell us which material live in there.

Maybe even what they do.

- [Mike] This is just some of the work that's happening.

- [Isaac] 12.2 - [Mike] Back in the field, students measure tassels on maize plants.

- çIsaac] 7.6 - [Mike] Above ground, but still root related.

- So if they're not getting enough nitrogen, they're not gonna produce the ears of corn.

And then a lot of the times, if they don't get enough nitrogen, they're not gonna pollinate.

- 12.

- Ab Rauf Shah makes models of the different regions, zones and types of maize roots.

- In layman's terms, if the root is a road you're working on the roadmap and trying to determine what's happening on those roads.

- Exactly.

Plants grown in glass beads instead of soil, lets researchers learn more about compounds produced just by the root itself.

- And so we try to create these more sterile or more isolated conditions in the glass beads where the chemicals that we're getting should only be from the root.

- There's research happening in traditional greenhouses.

(gentle music) But also here.

A huge plant phenotyping platform.

It's fully automated, set up for daily analysis of up to 672 plants, moving through infrared, fluorescent, visible, and hyperspectral chambers to gather a wide range of info.

(gentle music) Weighing and watering is also automated.

There aren't many, if any places like this in the country.

It's all a big multidisciplinary group of scientists and tools with good reasons for digging into what happens below ground.

So what's the end goal of what you're hoping to learn from all of this?

- So the end goal is we're hoping we can figure out if there are certain genetics with the plants that lend towards a beneficial microbial community for that plant.

- So right now you have a lot of pieces - [Ed] Yes.

- [Mike] Is basically what you're saying.

- [Ed] Yes, we have a lot of pieces, a lot of good work that's been done, a lot of discoveries, but in some respects, they're in different areas of the project and now we're really focused on just bringing them together and developing high yielding maize that can produce with lower water inputs, nitrogen and phosphorus inputs.

It's great if we can do something that really benefits the farmers of the state.

I do think that the innovations that we're making will have impact.

(gentle music) (steak sizzles) This comes from a couple young guys who like to say they're putting new ideas into old dirt.

[Videographer] Soil.

[Mike] Oops, soil.

Sorry.

Anyway, meet the Brugger brothers.

- Let me tell you a story about twin brothers.

Football stars who were gonna play in college until they changed directions, joined the UNL band, became ag entrepreneurs while still in school.

Producing corn, beef, and soybeans, hops, and whiskey.

Fourth generation farmers, borrowing from the past, but doing it their own way.

That's the short version of Upstream Farms.

There's a lot more you need to know about these guys and what they're doing.

So what is Upstream?

- It's the intersection of agriculture, creativity, entrepreneurship, innovation, all those things that we find, even music in a way.

All those things that we are passionate about, we wanted to create a space that we could do that and do it for the rest of our lives.

- I think at its core what it's doing is it's taking products that we've raised on our family's farm for generations, and maybe adding more value to them than what they are right now.

- [Mike] Matt and Joe run Upstream as a separate business in tandem with their family farm.

Working the family land, living in their grandparents' old house.

It looks a lot like any farm operation, but the beef they raise is sold directly to people serving or eating it online or in a Lincoln store.

The corn they grow feeds the cattle but also becomes whiskey.

- The process that we're doing right now is called our spirit run, which is taking all of the alcohol that we have, putting it into the still and redistilling it so that we can separate those flavorful alcohols versus the ones that we're not looking for.

- [Mike] So start to finish, how long does it take to make barrel of whiskey?

- It takes us about a month to do a barrel of whiskey.

- There's hops they sell to a handful of local breweries.

Hops harvest is over.

So all we're left with, is this kind of quirky maze of poles and wires and stuff.

So what got you into hops?

- Well, I think for a long time, we looked at these underutilized acres that are on our farm and said what can we do with those acres that might be a little bit different and help us diversify what we're growing.

(yelling) - They talk a lot about diversity, something that used to happen more like when their grandpa grew five different crops and raised milk cows, chickens and pigs.

It'd be a lot easier just to do a corn soybean rotation, wouldn't it?

- Yeah, absolutely.

- How hard is it to break out of that mindset?

- I mean, for us, it wasn't too hard because we did it out of necessity.

We see what the future of agriculture looks like.

- [Mike] Bottom line, small and traditional wasn't gonna cut it.

- The idea that we have seen in the way that agriculture is going is, you're either gonna get bigger and survive or you're going to have to really be innovative if you're gonna stay small and survive in this industry.

- They network and collaborate with like-minded rural entrepreneurs, brewers and coffee roasters, pork and honey producers who sell their products under the Upstream brand.

And they aren't shy about telling their story especially on social media.

- My name's Matt.

- My name is Joe.

- We're twin brothers and co-founders of Upstream Farms.

- [Mike] One of their first hires was a photographer.

It's not an ego thing.

- [Matt] We can talk about what we're doing day to day.

We can educate people, we can entertain people.

And we can also just say, this is our life.

This is what it's like to be a farmer.

And there's a story in agriculture that's not being told right now.

There is a space where we've seen this divide between people and their food and their connection to it.

And we wanna fill that gap.

- This is what they always wanted to do.

As little kids playing with a toy farm set.

As high school grads who were introduced to UNL's Engler Ag Entrepreneurship Program and decided that was more important than playing football.

Twins who got a love of agriculture from dad, creativity from mom, ties the bind from both.

You've been connected forever.

You ever drive each other nuts?

- Yep.

All the time.

- All the time.

- I would say that, yeah.

- You go for it.

- It's one of those things where I could never imagine doing this without Matt, even though there's days that I feel like, you know, man, it'd be just great if I could just go do my own thing and I wouldn't have to have somebody offering a counterpoint to everything that we're talking about.

There's more cows out here than there are people and you can talk to your cows as much as you want to but they're not gonna talk back.

(cow mooing) - I know.

- And so it's nice to be able to have somebody to be able to you know, run a business with and not have to do it on your own.

It makes everything a lot less scary.

- [Mike] The Brugger brothers understand it takes time, patience, to see the finished product when you're producing stuff like beef and whiskey.

They just didn't want to wait until later in life to do it their way with their ideas.

When you're pushing against the current, hence the Upstream name, there's people who think you're crazy.

And some bad days when winds blow down your hops vines or whiskey barrels leak.

But the good days.

- I remember there was a couple of times.

I mean, we got done with a day and like, I remember you just going, that was the perfect day.

Like, that was just, if every day could be that way.

And we started saying, okay, as ourselves personally how can we have more of those days?

- [Joe] How can we replicate that?

- [Matt] Yeah, and I think then that starts to look like what success is for us.

And we stop trying to chase that next thing, the next thing, the next thing.

It's just, what's your ideal day look like and then how can you have that for the rest of your life?

(melodious instrumental music) [Speaker] These fellows were born to be entrepreneurs.

They were born for this, as much as any other human being on the planet.

[Tom] They hit the world with enthusiasm.

They pivot, they think, they work, they're creative.

They blend their heads and their hearts in really unique and powerful ways."

[Mike] Tom Field is a big reason the Bruggers are doing what they are doing.

UNL's Engler program has launched a lot of young entrepreneurs.

[Tom] Do not romanticize what these people do.

Entrepreneurship is not about fairytales and unicorns and cotton candy and everything turning out lovely and nice.

It's hard work.

This is about not waiting for the cavalry.

This is about deciding to start.

This is about deciding to take control of the script.

About asking for the ball, and moving it forward.

[Mike] That's exactly what young ladies from a small high school did.

Also aided by the Engler Program, their business created our desert.

Salted carmel gelato.

- How do you guys feel about the schedule so far?

We're, what is this, three weeks into our schedule?

- [Student] It's pretty nice.

- We're designing the schedule you wanted that day to be - [Mike] It all started when Ann Dvorak got her school into in a project supported by FFA and UNL's Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program.

- Yeah, 'cause that's due tomorrow.

- [Narrator] Four of her students got involved, but they needed a business idea to pitch.

- We went from a tree cutting business to a food truck and rustic restoration.

- Like a bunch of, four high school girls were going to go and cut down cedar trees.

Yup.

- [Mike] The day before the big pitch, a couple team members were out of town.

On the way back, they stopped at a gelato shop - And we fell in love with it.

- [Mike] On the Go Gelato was born.

(bell rings) (bright, upbeat music) - We have cinnamon, salted caramel, vanilla, and root beer.

- [Mike] Four seniors started the school-based business as sophomores.

- Here you go.

- Thank you.

- Yep.

- Thanks.

- Yep.

- [Mike] Two other students joined the team soon after.

- Cinnamon, please.

- Cinnamon bun.

Thanks.

In the beginning, I think it was just, oh yeah.

We're going to learn about entrepreneurship and start a business.

And then it became ingrained in them.

- [Mike] $2,000 from that quick pitch program and other funding helped buy equipment and get On the Go Gelato going.

- [Girl] In our first year we actually made money and we've continued to do so.

- [Cameraman] Yeah, I'm guessing not a lot of entrepreneurs with a startup can say they've made money in the first year, can they?

- No.

- Well, we're obviously a very determined group.

- [Mike] The students do everything.

Sales, marketing, manufacturing, selling to students and teachers once a week in between classes.

At events like county fairs, even shipping online orders.

- In the town of Bassett, we don't have anywhere to get good quality ice cream or gelato.

We can get prepackaged ice cream from the gas station but we can't find that anywhere else.

So, in our mind, it was solving a problem in our community was something that we were really excited about.

- With gelato, there's always a new flavor to be made.

There's always a new place to go.

People consume gelato and they're wanting more.

- [Mike] What's your favorite flavor?

- Mine is Fruity Pebbles.

- Hmm, pumpkin pie by far.

- Mint chip, salted caramel, or candy cane.

- Cinnamon.

- Fruity Pebbles.

- Mm, probably piña colada.

- Either cinnamon or apple pie.

- They give me a hard time for being the one that likes to try weird flavors.

Like I made them make me cucumber.

- [Mike] Did the cucumber go over well?

- No.

- [Mike] No cucumber tonight.

We're making a batch of vanilla.

- So you are going to teach me how to make gelato.

- Yes.

- Okay.

What do we need to do?

- We're pouring the milk and the cream and the sugar in to start the base.

- I think I can measure a cup.

- I hope so.

- The whole bag of sugar?

- No, not quite.

- Oh.

So, how many hours a week are you guys doing this?

- [Grace] I would say Jillian and I do gelato probably around ten hours a week.

- You can tell that the eggs have kind of cooked down.

Like it's not that bright yellow anymore.

(trumpet music) - Shut the lid?

- Mm-hm.

- Push the button?

Okay.

Now we watch?

- Yep.

- Why's there a hole on the top?

Do you have new flavor ideas?

- Not really off the top of my head right now.

- I've heard that there's somebody really, really wants cucumber.

- Yeah.

(laughter) - The cooks first.

This is good.

This is really good.

Well done.

- Thank you.

- Yay.

- [Mike] They've had plenty of success, like pitching for the entrepreneurial-themed reality show Shark Tank.

- Having the opportunity to be able to pitch to the producers and then move on to the next round, and just all the cool people that I got to meet was a super cool opportunity.

- [Mike] And they've hit a few bumps.

Gelato melted when a freezer got left open, bad weather killed sales at an event, trouble getting a food inspector to review their business, even classmates doubting what they were doing.

- The kids in our school, when we were first starting it they're like, oh, this isn't going to turn out.

Like, no, one's going to want your ice cream.

- Mostly the boys in our class, I think were just jealous of us being successful and starting something cool.

They really hated on our business.

- [Mike] Turns out $2 cups of gelato can change a lot of opinions.

That, plus a heavy helping of girl power.

- What?

- [Mike] Dishing out girl power.

- That's right.

That's our, yeah.

That's our logo.

- [Girl] Dishing out girl power to me means showing other girls that they can do something different, too.

- Yes.

We started a business but we're not the only ones that can do it.

- You can follow your dreams basically is what we want to show other young women.

- Because we're a girl, a women ran business and we're just supporting women empowerment and girls being bosses.

- I would say that one thing that connects all of them is they're all very, they have a lot of grit and they don't give up easily.

(inspiring music) [Mike] Check out all our "What If."

stories online.

And #WhatIfNebraska on social media.

Honestly, we've gotta do more cooking shows.

This is a pretty good gig.

Thanks for hanging out in my backyard for this episode of "What If.".

(upbeat music) [Emily] Got it?

(laughter) - Seriously?

- Emily's like, "Just shut up, I'm trying to get sound right now."

(theme music) Captioned by Foreman/NET (theme music) Copyright 2021 NET Foundation for Television