When Backpacking And Business Professional Worlds Collide

When traveling alone it is rare to get pictures… so sometimes you have to resort to a selfie.

In a panic, I realized there were only five days before I re-entered the professional life I had left behind in May of 2019.  I would be flying to Australia to attend an agri-food tech conference and my wardrobe consisted of four shirts, worn continuously over the last five months and washed only when the mud was sufficiently thick to offend my sensibilities. Hardly the “smart casual” stated in the event description. But with a stroke of luck and the generosity of my recent host, I managed to outfit myself for less than $15, the cost of a new pair of flats. As I stepped into this professional setting, smartly dressed to fit in with other conference attendees, I realized my clothes couldn’t hide the profound ways I had changed. And I thought to myself, “Where do I fit now?”

I certainly learned a lot about our agri-food space during Evoke Ag, Asia Pacific’s Largest Agri-Food Tech Event, but in addition to this industry learning, I also learned a lot about myself. After the conference I spent some time reflecting on how I see myself moving forward in the industry and bringing my ideas, unique experiences and personality to the table.

Evoke Ag took place at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne, Australia. The location definitely beat hotel conference centers in the States.

For the past several years, when I was talking to farmers for my job, I was a Midwestern gal that grew up going to my great grandparent’s farm on the weekend and studied agriculture in school. I wasn’t the girl from a suburb of a big city that attended a liberal arts school on the East Coast of the U.S., studied environmental science with a focus on agriculture and food systems, and a vegetarian. While both narratives are true, only one of them felt like an acceptable story to tell farmers and other colleagues in the agriculture industry. Each of these depictions of myself play equally significant roles in how I view our agri-food system. I don’t want to feel like I have to choose one “role” over the other, and ignore certain parts of my experiences.

At this conference, after five months of working on New Zealand farms, I again found myself altering my narrative to fit what people wanted to hear. I talked about my experience blogging on food and ag issues, my work on commercial dairy and livestock operations, and my conversations with farmers. I left out talking about my weeks working on small market vegetable gardens, or my month living in an eco-community. To those in the traditional “ag space” this isn’t real farming. It isn’t real food and agriculture experience. 

As I reflect on my time at the conference I am realizing that it is the experiences traveling that are maybe a bit more outside the industry than within it that have forced me to question my beliefs and ideas on what I think our agri-food system should look like. In these moments, I have formulated and strengthened my opinions. I have been asked the hard questions about agriculture and conversed with the staunch vegan supporter, as well as the consumer whose agriculture education is based solely on documentaries.  And not only have these experiences forced me to be able to better articulate my opinions, they have also shaped my perspective on what an “ideal agriculture system” looks like. 

A picture of me on one of the first farms that I worked on in New Zealand, preparing beds for spring planting.

When I left my previous job, one of the members of our leadership team in jest said that I was going off to go do the “millennial thing” Yes, in some ways I am the stereotypical millennial taking a year to travel and discover the world; however, by traveling and learning outside the “norm” I am also finding lessons that I would never have gotten had I stayed at a traditional job.

Difference and diversity bring innovation to the table. Many times in corporate settings we feel the need to assimilate to a certain work or industry culture. As someone that comes from an urban setting and has lived in both rural and urban America, I am no stranger to straddling two worlds. During the conference, I again found myself straddling the worlds of a backpacker - my reality for the past five months - and a business professional working in the agri-food tech space. But these don’t have to be separate worlds. When I do eventually return to a more traditional work setting, I plan to bring all of my experiences to the table. 

A photo of me on one of the backpacking trips I have had the chance to do while traveling New Zealand.

I am being exposed to different ways of thinking and giving myself time to think critically about the way things currently exist in the industry. I believe that the perspective that I bring now, as well as the perspective that I will bring when I do go back to living a more “normal” life will be filled with thoughts and new ideas because of one farm that I worked on, one conversation that I had with a stranger, and one meal I shared with a traveler. I don’t have to conform to what the industry expects. If I believe the agriculture system is broken and needs to change then I need to celebrate thinking about and working at the fringes to move it in a more positive direction.