When did you know that you wanted to work in food?
I believe strongly in the power of incremental growth. Rather than one specific moment, it has been the gradual amalgamation of incredible opportunities and experiences that continue to arise.
To speak more specifically to growing food, the biggest realization was recognizing that farmers are inherently versatile. A farmer is a scientist, artist, athlete, community leader, chef, entrepreneur and in many ways an ambassador of humanity. There is an incredible link that working with food has to almost anyone you can meet in the world, seriously. It unlocks doors to relationships, globally, in such a way that I had never experienced before. I got into food and farming to see what else life could offer, outside of a corporate job in the financial industry. I wanted to use my mind, body and the depth of my soul, but I never thought I had found the holy grail. I just chose to expand my reality by continuing the search for a meaningful, fulfilling life through experience. Nevertheless, agriculture and technology are such fun and integral parts of society and our connection to each other, that it's hard to find a reason to leave.
How did you get your current good food job?
PickACarrot.com is a tech startup helping farmers, home gardeners and growers of all sizes locate, compare and purchase seeds from dozens of seed catalogs. After working on several farms in the northeast and traveling throughout the US and abroad, speaking with farmers about the difficulties they had and thinking about what type of web-based tools would be useful, my Co-Founder Mark Cerritelli (a godsend and inspiration) and I started PickACarrot.com two years ago to help growers with all their seed needs. We are working to develop the most comprehensive seed resource on the internet, to help farmers locate the best seed for their environmental conditions and markets, at the best price, while providing a platform to let the seed companies market their offerings.
Through seed research and production work with Cornell Univesity's Plant Breeding Department and more recently with PickACarrot.com, I had been in contact with my first farm mentor and a huge inspiration to me and so many of us young farmers, 'Captain' Jack Algiere, Farm Director of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. I was recently offered a position to be the Crop and Seed Variety Trial manager at Stone Barns, and I now manage vegetable field production while coordinating and organizing our on-farm seed research and experimentation. We currently have around 50 key experiments going on, with many more in the works.
Sidenote: For what it's worth, I spent the last 2 seasons working at Cornell University in Plant Breeding and Genetics, which I partially owe to Good Food Jobs as I didn't even know about some of the academic possibilities in agriculture until I saw several listings on Good Food Jobs a few years ago. This site has been my home base and zone of inspiration in trying to think about each step of my career. I saw several research assistant positions listed on GFJ, which spurred me to reach out to some professors I knew, one of which eventually offered me a life-changing job. I still think about Good Food Jobs every time I think about that time in my life.
How did your previous work or life experience prepared you for a good food job?
If we are talking about prior to my first foray into farming, I would say my work in the corporate world gave me valuable perspective on that type of lifestyle and work-life balance. Also, it was very important for me to learn and understand business, economics and the managerial aspects that really play a role in every job. Developing a business, while working on several farms and in Plant Breeding for Cornell University has helped me develop a deeper understanding of the seed industry and the challenges farmers face in trying to run a successful business, while using ecology and sustainability as a leading metric.
What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your good food job dream?
With PickACarrot.com, it's trying to create something that doesn't exist in the world, but that I know should exist in its most useful form. Mark and I are constantly speaking with farmers and seed companies and working to build the simplest product and reach the most people, but there is no playbook, so we have to write one.
The current food movement is moving quickly, but it is still not as established as other major industries, so persistence, organization and embracing incremental growth are the only things that seem to work.
Recognizing and acknowledging each small step as success and growth, even if no one else notices or cares is extremely important to perseverance. The goal can't just be to get to the end, it has to involve learning how to enjoy and understand why something is becoming successful in each stage. This helps to build a healthy life and a repeatable process that can be used in work and in life outside of work.
Name one positive thing that a former employee taught you that you continue to appreciate?
If you're 50% there, keep going; there's plenty to learn by staying on the path, no matter how foggy the road may be.
Share what you know and provide space for individual growth for those working with you. Every successful, knowledgeable person I have been lucky enough to work with has always shared his or her knowledge completely without fear and has offered space and trust for me to learn from their expertise and my mistakes.
What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?
1. 'To see things in the seed, that is genius.' - Lao Tzu
Seeds?seeds have been and continue to be the key to the past, present and the future. The biggest opportunity in food is to understand varieties of different crops in order to better serve farmers, chefs and consumers. People want transparency and to easily understand what they are eating.
2. Web-based tools that help farmers, home gardeners, chefs and consumers locate, compare, understand and purchase what they need, while providing safety through transparency.
3. Building small businesses of value with values. If enough small food and tech businesses develop throughout the country, we will build a foundation that can last for a long time. If everything gets narrowed down to just a few companies, the opportunities will be lost.
If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?
Complete access and strategy sessions with other top entrepreneurs and scientists that want to help change the food system.