Five years ago, my husband and I built a corral. I remember being four months pregnant in the blazing heat, but so excited to finally have a place for my horse. Unlike my husband, who had ridden a horse a dozen times before we met, I had grown up on a horse. Cattle drives, trail rides, horse 4-H, high school rodeos, and evening rides were my life growing up. I rode before I could walk and had my own horse before most kids had their own bikes. It was a big part of my life and my childhood. Then I grew up, moved away, and married a farmer with lots of tractors, land, and farm toys. And no animals. And I missed it.

Slowly, we were able to build a corral, figure out a watering system, find a trailer, buy some hay, and get my horse from my parents’ house seven hours away. It seemed like a lot at the time, especially when I didn’t have a real “reason” to have my horse. No cows to move, no rodeos to compete in, no friends or siblings to ride with. But we did it because I wanted to hold tight to that part of my life and my identity. I wanted my kids to experience some of those same things and have a chance to love them too.

Life looks a lot different now and my role in agriculture has changed a lot in the last 10 years. I used to spend my summers moving cows and raking hay, but now I watch my husband take our kids on the tractor to care for a crop I knew nothing about before we met. But I still hold tight to the other parts of ag that carry so many fond memories and taught so many life lessons.

I think we all do that in one way or another. We try to hold on to what we learned and what mattered to us in the past and try to pass it along to the next generation. We hold tight to what we love so that we can give a piece of that to those who come next. That is one thing that binds the ag community together so much. Many people from different levels of agriculture, different backgrounds, and different roles all holding tight to something they hold so dear - so that one day, someone else can have a piece of that too.

So even if our part in agriculture looks different than it used to, or different than what we would like it to be, there is a place for all of us who want agriculture to thrive and grow. There are people, organizations, and opportunities that can help us pass our love of agriculture on to those who come after us. As we hold tight to what we love, we fight for it to continue. And it is worth fighting for, which is what all the farmers, ranchers, and agriculture supporters do every day.


Josie and her husband Easton live in Richfield and work on his family’s sod farm in Sevier County. They represent District 6 on the State YF&R Committee, which includes Garfield, Piute, Sanpete Sevier, and Wayne Counties.