In a field of broccoli nestled deep in the Appalachian hills of southwest Virginia, I found myself standing at a crossroads, not just of crops and cover crops, but of career and calling. I had a renewed focus. After years working with ornamental plants, landscapes and gardens, I was ready to grow into a new purpose.
That fall, I arrived at Virginia Tech on a scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in horticulture. What awaited me was more than graduate school; it was an immersion in the realities of farming. I worked with a team researching how to integrate conservation tillage and cover crops into organic cropping systems. We farmed near the New River, experimenting on different vegetable systems across the seasons. We grew produce by the truckload and gave much of it away, sharing not just food but stories of how it was grown, what we learned, and why it mattered.
This was the summer of 2005. Back then, the conversation around soil health, organic matter, and regenerative practices hadn’t yet gone mainstream. But we were already living the trade-offs. Managing weeds without herbicides meant disturbing the soil with repeated tillage. We were trying to build systems that served both people and the planet, often without all the tools conventional systems relied on.
I didn’t know it yet, but I was gaining experience in system thinking. My mentor, Dr. Ron Morse, once told me, “You might think you’re getting a degree in vegetables, but really you’re learning how to understand what any farm needs, in any place and at any time, to be successful.” That stayed with me.
This time in my life wasn’t just about broccoli, though my friends would poke fun when I talked about my study. It was about developing the eyes to see how a farm functions as a system, made up of soil, water, climate, and people, and how to think critically about which practices are right in a particular time and place. It was about growing as a professional and a person through consistency, clarity, and hard work. And it was about building habits of performance that I still carry into every part of my life. During those seasons in Virginia, farming by morning and studying by late day, the work was real and the produce was abundant. The experience developed a deep insight for me.
What stayed with me most was this: depth creates clarity. It’s easy to be pulled in many directions, to try every tool or tactic. But when you commit to going deep (in a subject, a practice, or a season of work) you begin to see systems, not just tasks. You learn how things are connected, what trade-offs matter most, and what’s really driving outcomes. I learned that farming is not only about inputs and outputs, but more so about how we understand context, constraints, and complexity. That insight continues to shape how I help others grow today by supporting not just action, but intention.
What This Taught Me
Those seasons taught me something simple but lasting: passion gives you energy, and going deep gives you clarity. Today, I help others do the same. Whether through coaching, designing experiments, or advising on farm systems, I keep coming back to that core lesson. The deeper you go, the more clearly you see. And the more clearly you see, the more equipped you are to lead.
But what if you don’t have time to go deep? That’s the reality for many professionals in agriculture today. Time is limited, expectations are high, and the pressure to perform is constant. In those moments, clarity becomes even more important. You need to know what’s essential, identify the few priorities that truly move the needle on your productivity and influence.
That’s not just a scheduling problem. It’s a self-actualization exercise. As a coach, I help agricultural professionals uncover those essentials by clarifying how they communicate, how they collaborate, and how they lead by example. When you understand what matters most, you can cut through the noise, focus your energy, and become the kind of leader agriculture needs today.
Let’s Keep the Conversation Going
What is one area of focus that would make you a stronger leader in agriculture?
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