How did you get interested in agriculture? And what are you hoping to gain from your apprenticeship?
May 2024

What first got me interested in agriculture was a course I took in college titled ‘World Agriculture,’ in which we learned about the enormous environmental impact of our industrial food system. I was shocked to become aware of the true costs of the food in the supermarket and even more astounded that this was not common knowledge. How had I not known that conventional agriculture was the leading contributor to global climate change? How did no one else know this? I went vegetarian within a week and within a month I had my mind set on pursuing a career in sustainable agriculture. My passion for improving our food system only grew as I began to work on farms and see that this career is both personally fulfilling and has the power to accomplish greater good for the planet, people, and animals. I eventually ended up working at a regenerative farm in SoCal that opened my eyes even further. I now understand the potential for intensive management of livestock to store carbon at a significant rate and greatly improve much of the damage done by conventional methods. I fell in love with working with animals as well and I started to eat meat from trusted sources again. Regenerative grazing seemed like the most impactful form of sustainable agriculture being practiced, so I gave it my full support.

The biggest thing I hope to gain from the NAP apprenticeship is an honest look at running a ranch as a business. A majority of my farming experience up to this point has been on operations that are funded by outside investors. On top of that, I’ve heard countless stories about farming being an endless amount of work and extremely stressful on individuals and families just to barely make it by financially. I know I love the work and I’m excited to deepen my ranch skills and stockmanship, but my main motivation is gaining an understanding of how people are able to make a living at this and support a family on ranch generated income. I want to know what major stresses are and what the work-life balance looks like. I need to know how decisions are made and if they still find joy in this work. I have a dream of what my own ranch business will look like one day and I need to know if it’s something I can really achieve. I need to figure out if this truly is the lifestyle that I want.

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