Who is Nicole?
Rooted in the Missouri River bottoms, blooming in the Sonoran Desert.
I spent my childhood on a small farm raising hogs, horses, and hay. A product of long hours, dedication to community, 4-H, FFA, and multiple leadership roles and organizations. When I left that piece of land for university I had no idea what I wanted to accomplish besides obtaining that piece of paper. I knew agriculture was my path, but I didn’t know what that really meant. Along the twisted trail of higher education, different careers paths, and finally understanding myself—now I am here.
These days people are about five generations away from a farm and most people just want to know and understand where their food comes from. Insert: Nicole.
Somewhere along the way I discovered my passion of having conversations about agriculture, how it works, and bringing those outside the industry into our wonderful world of food and fiber and the ways that agriculture impacts everyone every day.
From farm management to fashion buyer to feed sales my career path has allowed me to experience multiple industries and in turn learn from them. Guiding others to career success within agriculture allows me to share my successes and mistakes made to help others and build a community within agriculture where everyone is welcome.
So welcome to fold where we chat about agriculture, careers, where your food comes from, recipes, strategy, success, failures, and everything in between!
From Farmer to Speaker
Why did I choose to stand in front of a room full of strangers and tell my story?
Great question; that has a couple answers. First, when I was preparing for university all I wanted to do was come back and farm. My dad told me that was in no way an option-he wanted me to go to school, get a good job, and not think about trying to make a living farming. It was too uncertain and he didn’t want me to experience the struggles he did. Now as I sit in my dream career in agriculture (yet outside the farm) I love getting to share the story, struggles, and lessons learned to the next generation of agriculturalists!
Secondly, when I was in my Master’s program I finally understood just how removed people were from agriculture. Something that encompassed my entire life some people never thought about. I knew then that I wanted to share agriculture’s story and help people understand it’s intricacies. What are GMO’s and why are they scary? What does this label really mean? What’s the difference between grass-fed and grass-finished? Does my food have hormones in it? These discussions don’t have to be intimidating. They can even be fun!
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Contact Nicole
If you’re interested in booking me as a speaker for your next event, have questions about agriculture, or just need a great recipe-fill out the form below to shoot me a message!