The way that Virginia describes wandering around her new home town of Santa Fe, New Mexico, 'look for her people', is a neat summary of what each and every one of us spends our lives doing. Whether you enjoy a lot or a little human interaction on a daily basis, we all need to feel connected and purposeful. As Virginie attests, sometimes the connection is the first step to finding your purpose.
To learn more about the Quivira Coalition's New Agrarian Program, visit our Education page at goodfoodjobs.com/education.
Quivira Coalition is currently hiring apprentices! Check out their openings here: goodfoodjobs.com/search
When did you know that you wanted to work in food?
Ever since my mother healed from cancer through a diet focused exclusively on organic, whole foods, I've been a strong advocate for the direct, seemingly obvious correlation between healthy food and a healthy body. When I first learned about the Quivira Coalition in 2009 before I joined the staff in 2012, the light-bulb went off on one more layer of correlation: healthy soil. Through my work with the Quivira Coalition, I've developed a deep appreciation for soils as an ecosystem. I feel very strongly that healthy soil, healthy food, and healthy people are inextricably linked to one another, and I feel very fortunate that my work incorporates an equal focus on all three.
How did you get your current good food job?
I had recently moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and was looking for "my people," so to speak. I found a flyer at a plant sale, announcing a volunteer land restoration workshop offered by the Quivira Coalition, a nonprofit in town with the mission to build resilience by fostering ecological, economic and social health on western working lands through education, innovation, collaboration and progressive public and private land stewardship. During this three-day workshop, I worked alongside other volunteers on a private ranch, building rock structures to help mitigate erosion in a riparian area, and slow the flow of water so that it might infiltrate more easily and begin to restore soil and plant health along the stream. It was during this workshop that I first really thought about the co-evolution of ungulates and grasslands, and how healthy grasslands depend on grazing disturbance to thrive. Finally, I learned about ranchers who intensively manage their herds specifically to ensure healthy soils and thriving, biodiverse pastures. A lightbulb went off for me that weekend, and I came to understand what a huge role agriculture-including ranching in the West-has to play in restoring soils, sequestering carbon, and mitigating climate change.
How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?
I spent ten years working for Voyageur Outward Bound School in canoe wilderness up on the Canadian border. A canoe takes two people working together to go in a straight line and maneuver rapids without tipping. You can't just close the door or walk away when you get annoyed with your paddling partner. You have to work through it. You have to learn to be patient, to really listen, to empathize with others. You have to be compassionate. When it's cold and rainy, when there's a dangerous thunderstorm approaching, when there's an injury in the group-you begin to understand the extent to which we rely on one another, not just on a canoe expedition, but in general, as a human family facing significant planetary challenges. Human relationships are critical to our success, whatever our field of work. Agriculture has a central role to play in environmental resilience and climate change-it can and should be a force for positive, regenerative change throughout this country and beyond. It's going to require people working together despite seemingly endless obstacles for us to turn the corner into a national, resilient and regenerative food system.
What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your Good Food Job dream?
Every job has its tough moments and its dull tasks. I probably spend several hours a day on email, sometimes answering the same basic questions over and over again, and it can feel like I'm not getting anywhere, not really making a difference. But then I think about the people who apprenticed through our program, graduated, and are now either running their own businesses or working in management positions on regenerative ranches and farms throughout the US. Since our program started in 2009, over ninety percent of our graduates are still working in regenerative agriculture. Some of them have published articles about their work, or spoken at conferences about regenerative agriculture. I have to remind myself that persistence with the daily maintenance tasks is really the only thing that leads to significant change over time. And so I persevere...
Name one positive thing that a former employer taught you that you continue to appreciate?
"Hire for soft skills, teach the hard skills." This is from the woman who hired me for what turned into a ten-year journey with Outward Bound in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota. Now, as the director of an agricultural apprenticeship program, I think of these words on a regular basis. While all of the positions through our program do require previous experience and technical skills, at the end of the day, a solid match between two highly-compatible humans-apprentice and mentor-remains hands-down the most important consideration in the selection process, for both parties. A successful apprenticeship relies on an engaged, trusting relationship between mentor and apprentice; with that in place, we can all rest assured that the next generation of agrarians will have life-long mentorship in support of a resilient food system.
What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?
There are so many. For me it's the growing recognition of the overlap between agriculture and environmental restoration and resilience. I love that our country has so much protected wilderness-I think that's really important. And yet wilderness still only makes up a teeny percentage of total lands across the US, whereas over forty percent is in agriculture-more, if you count grazing leases on federal lands. We have this enormous opportunity to make a significant difference in this country by employing regenerative agricultural methods that build soil ecology, increase soil water retention, and sequester carbon. The benefits are endless and universal: nutritious food, no toxic runoffs from agricultural fields, living soils that can weather drought and other climate challenges... but we have to employ these methods at scale. And we have to start now.
If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?
Locally grown food: organically grown veggies and raw cheese produced on a grass fed dairy. And maybe some local honey.