We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kristen McCormick. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kristen below.

Kristen, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Quality control is a challenge almost every entrepreneur has had to focus on when growing – any advice, stories or insight around how to best ensure quality is maintained as your business scales?

Industry-wide, Coconut substrates are becoming more are more popular to work with amongst growers and cultivators. There are numerous reasons, the foremost reason being that “Coco” tends to promote higher fruit and flower yields than regular soil. However, historically, Coconut coir is cumbersome to work with. Naturally, coconut is full of salt, and not great for plants, but once processed, an expert grower can dial in their specific parameters (pH, EC, PPM) and see tremendous growth.

This is what makes Batch:64 so special. Batch:64 is designed to be the most comprehensive and consistent Coco substrate on the market. Batch:64, in fact, has the highest quality assurance standards in the entire industry. This achievement carefully testing our product, over and over, before it leaves our facility in Delta, CO. Batch:64 is the only Coconut-based based soil brand that is able to provide soil analytics before, during, and even after the proprietary manufacturing process.

These high-standards for our Batch:64 products actually guide us as our business grows. Our process demands that we conduct our business with care and mindfulness because what we do is so specific. Our goal is for our growers and cultivators to have a soil that is ready to use, right out of the bag, so these growers and cultivators can continue to grow food, herbs, and medicine in a sustainable, modern way.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

My name is Kristen McCormick, and I am the CEO for a company called “Waste Farmers,” and we manufacture soil in Delta, CO. Our clients range from the Cannabis sector, home and garden, and all across general agriculture.

I got involved in the agriculture in when I came on as a consultant in early 2021. Previously, I have run a series of recycling businesses in Tulsa, OK, over the last decade. In 2011, my recycling business won Tulsa’s “Small Business of the Year”, and the culture of sustainability has always been the forefront of my passion. How do we leave the world better than we found it?

I was immediately attracted to the work Waste Farmers is doing because coconut is a sustainable resource, compared to peat, which is hardly sustainable. I immediately was drawn to the sense of pride and quality in every product they make, and most importantly, I saw tremendous opportunity for growth across the entire agricultural industry. The Batch:64 soil line is currently maximizing yields for growers and cultivators across the country.

At Waste Farmers, our goal is to give growers and cultivators modern, sustainable soils and substrates to fit any growing need. Growing food and medicine are practices that are as old as civilized humanity itself, and our hope is to make growing, gardening, and cultivating easy at any skill level.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

In all of the industries I’ve worked in, I have noticed that people mostly want the same thing: to be seen. I think everyone has worked a job where they felt like they were unimportant and replaceable. Of course, there will always be quality standards that must be met when running a business, but I have found that my employees, past and present, want to know that they are valued and they are contributing to the business with purpose and virtue. Beyond the human rights of employment (fair, honest wage, medical benefits, Paid-time off), it is important to me that our employees understand that they are valuable to our organization at every position.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Everyday has obstacles and challenges when running a business, but when I started my first recycling company, I was in my early 20’s, and there were multiple times where I didn’t think I would make it through the month. Fast forward a few years, I was doing recycling services for some of the largest Casinos in the world. My advice is, don’t quit. Good things take a little bit of time, GREAT things take years sometimes! Just be honest about your personal needs and the needs of your business, treat your employees with the same respect you treat your clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: wastefarmers.com