Sawyer Rozeboom is a junior at Hull Western Christian High School in Hull, Iowa. He is active in 4-H, FFA, and works for a hay and forage company.

Q: What made you want to join 4-H? And FFA?
I joined 4H as a 4th grader because I wanted to show dairy cattle, as my family has shown dairy cattle for a long time. I joined FFA in high school to have fun and learn a few things.

Q: How did you balance your Ag activities with classes, school activities, employment, and community involvement?
I struggle to balance school with farming because school always starts at the same time as the corn silage season, and planting begins towards the end of the school year. My mind is on farming, and I struggle to get my homework done. Yet, unlike what most people think, in my mind, farming comes first.

Q: What do you enjoy most about 4-H and FFA?
I joined FFA to have fun with some great people. FFA activities are so much more fun with others who like to have fun as well. Anyone considering FFA or 4H should join, as they will not regret it, and you learn some valuable life skills.

Q: What do you think being in 4H, FFA, and your farm job have taught you?
My farm job and being raised on a diary have taught me is that farming is more than just sitting in a tractor cab going up and down the field. Many things go into that time in the field, such as seed hybridization, tillage practices, cover crops, crop rotations, fertilizer, timing, and more. There is also a considerable financial investment in running a farm, including equipment, equipment maintenance, feed costs, animal health, seed costs, fertilizer costs, labor, etc. Farming is not always sunshine and rainbows. Markets will go down, storms will threaten crops and animals, equipment will break, and you will face floods, droughts, and diseases in your herd. There are so many issues that can happen, yet I have learned that you don’t give up because we are the less than 1% of Americans who have to put food on everyone’s plate.

Q: Who are the people who have helped you succeed?
I’ve had many people help me along the way, such as my grandpa, uncles, friends, boss, and co-workers. But I think the person who has helped me the most is probably my dad. He has taught me so much about showing cattle, running equipment, fixing equipment, crops, and much more. He trusted me at a young age to run equipment, which has made me a pretty good equipment operator.

Q: Do you think you will have a future in Ag?
I will have a future in Agriculture because it is what I know and what I love to do. I could take many different paths, and I’m not sure which way I will go. Currently, my goal is to return to the family dairy farm and milk cows with robots.