It was the end of 2019, a time before our generation knew what a global disaster was, when video conferencing was reserved for teams spread across country borders, and TikTok had not yet transformed marketing and entertainment.
I was a second-year student in the field of agriculture. Living in Johannesburg, the capital city of South Africa, I did not grow up with much experience in farm life or agricultural production. In my endeavours to find any form of agricultural experience in the most urban area within the country, I stumbled upon Urban Farmer. I fell in love with the company and their mission to make positive contributions to African animal protein production. Before I knew it, I boarded a plane to Zambia, where I monitored some feed trials as a student learner. At the time, I knew in my heart that someday, I would like to return to Urban Farmer. Little did I know it would be so soon, and it was beyond my wildest dreams to be in my dream position - training smallholder farmers all across Africa.
In April 2023, I received the phone call that would make one of my biggest dreams come true. I was finally offered a position at Urban Farmer. But my dream position - to train and work with smallholder farmers across several African countries. I knew that the job at hand was going to be challenging, but I had no idea how much I would learn. Armed with my university degrees and a passion, I had a lot of background knowledge, but the industry has taught me things I would have had a hard time learning from a formal classroom.
There are many lessons I have learned in training smallholder farmers, which I will write about extensively in future articles. But here are three main things I have learned as an early career professional in agriculture.
Allow Every Part of You to Be Present at the Table
I attended the Global Leadership Summit in 2019. There was a speaker named Carla Harris. What an inspiring lady. You should go read about her. Anyway, she spoke words that altered the way I approached my career forever:
“Your authenticity is your own unique competitive advantage.”
She spoke about how being a gospel singer, a mother, an artist, and a banker made her uniquely able to relate to her customers. She realised that she did not have to pose in the “investment banker” mould and that bringing every part of her into the room put her ahead.
In agriculture, we need it all. We need photographers, teachers, speakers, readers, mathematicians, tech enthusiasts, accountants, supply chain specialists, laboratory experts, field technicians, people who like dirty boots, mechanics, data analysts, policymakers, marketing experts, product designers, and thousands more.
I trained to be an agricultural economist. Some days, I am knee-deep in gumboots mixing feed on a farm. Other days I am a teacher with a class of diverse students. On other occasions, I work in marketing, sales, or finance.
When I walked into agriculture, I was worried that I would be restricted. The longer I stay in agriculture, the more I find that it is the most freeing and diverse field you could ever enter. All your skills are welcome in this sector. Agriculture employs the most people globally, so there will always be room for people who bring an array of interesting skills, talents, and interests to the table.
You are the Average of the 5 People You Spend the Most Time with - Which Will Almost Always Be Colleagues
John Rohn once said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” I have tried and tested this in my life over and over again, and it proves true every time. Never underestimate the power of your colleagues on your growth, well-being, and personal development.
Direct support to small scale farmers reduces poverty - what Zambia is doing right
In one of my first interviews, I asked my would-be boss this question. I asked, “If I were to walk down this hall and pick five random people, would I be proud if I were the average between them in character?” He looked a little surprised by the question. I stand by my opinion that this is an important question you need to ask yourself frequently about the organisation you find yourself in.
I cannot overstate the importance of culture in the organisations you work for. The relationships you forge with your superiors and peers will play a critical role in the momentum you are able to achieve not only at the start of your career, but all the way through to the end.
I have taken positions in the past that were not 100% aligned with my long-term career goals, within organisations that did not quite align with my personal values. I understand the realities of the job market. As beginners in the industry, we often don’t have as much freedom of choice in the desperation to get started, oftentimes to start tackling student debt. We all have to start somewhere.
Prioritise identifying people within your daily environment and within your industry who inspire you, challenge you to be better, and most importantly, whose values align with yours.
You Should Only Allow Yourself to Quit Once You Have Reaped Some Rewards
Our generation has been branded a generation with very little determination and perseverance. I don’t think it is always our fault; a lot of this behaviour has been shaped by the circumstances we grew up in. Parenting styles that changed, the rapid adoption of technology, the introduction of social media, and the rise of instant gratification culture.
While we don’t need to feel ashamed or burden ourselves with unnecessary blame, we do have the responsibility to understand our own weaknesses arising from our generational behaviours and to be aware when they influence our behaviour towards others and within our careers.
I won’t get into the psychology of all this here, but I highly recommend this interview with Simon Sinek on the topic.
I have applied the principle in my life that I am not allowed to quit until I have reaped a reward in whatever I started. Say you pick up running as a hobby, you should not give up until you finish your first 5k. If you decide to start learning to draw, you should not give up until you have produced something you feel proud to hang on a wall.
In your career - you cannot quit until you start seeing the rewards of whatever career path you are on. You will quickly discover that changing jobs every six months does not reap rewards. Why? Meaningful rewards take time.
If you remain with something long enough to reap its rewards, then you have a better understanding of what you are giving up on. By all means, make a change. But before you have not reaped the rewards, and you quit, you can easily find yourself in a trap of believing you don’t fit in anywhere, nothing makes you happy, and like you don’t make a difference.
Our entire generation feels this way. Be aware of it. Impact takes time. Meaningful growth takes patience. Practise the principles of reward before quitting. Your decisions are much more informed this way, and I can promise you, you’ll move further and faster than peers who move often, but sporadically.
These career lessons are applicable in any industry. I have just happened to learn them from shovelling manure on pig farms, feeding day-old chicks on chicken farms in remote places, and more recently in leading a team through the discovery process of a new business model and learning how to manage impact investment projects in Africa. Whether you are working in a lab or on a farm, from a hotel room or from an office - the agricultural industry has lots to teach you. You just have to volunteer yourself into opportunities - particularly the ones that scare you and that you know nothing about. If you are aspiring to work in a finance, marketing, operations, or sales department - you can do that within agriculture too.
Agriculture has opened the world for me. Agriculture is everywhere. Agriculture needs everyone on board.
These might only be three lessons I have learned summed up in an article. But Agriculture is unique in its ability to take you places, teach you about life, people, and the environment.
