How did you get interested in agriculture? And what are you hoping to gain from your apprenticeship?
May 2025
When reflecting on when I first became interested in agriculture, my mind goes to the ranch where I learned how to ride. Diamond D Ranch is located in my hometown of Jacksonville, Florida and is a working cattle ranch that also offers trail rides. I first started taking riding lessons there when I was about 8 years old, after begging my mom for weeks. As I continued to ride there, I began to think more and more about the cattle that were raised. By the age of 14, I came to the conclusion that most cattle are not raised how they are at Diamond D, and furthermore that their environmental impact was detrimental to increasing global temperatures. So, my naive entry into 7 years of vegetarianism began.
Fast forward 7 years, I am a biology student in college. After numerous ecology centered classes, I began to gain an interest in agriculture and how it interacts with the environment. After some research, I discovered the topic of “regenerative agriculture.” This is obviously a subjective and vastly generalizing term, but it is what drew me in. I could consume meat that I knew was raised in an ethical manner for the animal and often was actually helping to heal the land and create carbon stores, thus mitigating the rising climate. I could also support the farmer or rancher who put time and effort into raising that animal. All of this clicked for me. Soon, I decided I wanted to be part of the producing end of it. I am interested in agriculture because I want to raise animals that are healthy and help the land by being put back into their natural disturbance regime. I want to do away with the stigma that I leaned into at the young age of 14 that all cattle ranching is detrimental to the planet and accentuating global temperatures.
After finding the Quivera apprenticeship program, I have spent hours upon hours daydreaming about what it will be like and what I hope to gain from it. The most concise answer is that I hope by the end of the apprenticeship to be a sponge full of water ready to be squeezed. I want to gain information and practical skills that I can take with me wherever I go. I have not come from an agricultural background, so this is my first hands-on experience. I want to take full advantage of all the learning there is to be done. I hope that through this apprenticeship, I will be able to gain a better understanding of the direction I want to take my life in, and if ecologically-minded production agriculture is truly my passion.