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Mason Riley and Lauren Davis-Bennett have been best friends since college and business partners since Innovative Agriculture Solutions, better known as IAS, was first conceived.
IAS is an incredible company, on the cutting edge of innovations in agriculture at almost every level. Mason and Lauren started out bringing agricultural systems to areas of the world that most needed increased access to crops, literally feeding hundreds of thousands. They’ve now expanded to research and development in making farming more resilient to climate change and more efficient for feeding the continuously growing population of the planet.
Mason and Lauren have met with leaders around the world. They’ve presented to Congress and the United Nations. They have a direct line to the White House. They’ve been published and featured in every scientific journal that has anything to do with agriculture or humanitarian efforts.
So when they recruited me as a junior in college based on a paper I wrote about using indoor farming technologies to solve the problem of food deserts in the United States, I was flattered and excited. I signed up immediately.
I didn’t ask any questions. I didn’t worry about a thing.
One of the most respected companies in the field of agricultural engineering and conservation wanted me. Of course, I wanted to work for them.
I didn’t realize that they would want me to go out and try to convince farmers and ranchers to use our technologies. To explain to people why they should convert to our systems. To talk to people about what we could do for them and why partnering with us would help them and their communities.
Lauren and Mason thought that the people actually developing the systems were the best to educate people about why they were beneficial.
They’re probably right on some level.
But I’m not the right girl.
I think that people should respect that experts know best and should just use technologies and systems that we tell them they should use.
Of course, I also don’t like talking to people, so there’s that too.
I’m meeting with two men today. Just two. Outside on their ranch. It’s not a big roomful of people. It’s not a wedding toast for one of my two sisters.
I still threw up right after I got out of my car.
I parked near a ditch specifically because I knew that was going to happen.
“Hi, Abigail, I’m Dean Simons.”
I shake the man’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
We’re fifteen miles outside of Bayard, a little town in the panhandle of Nebraska. I’m here to try to convince Dean to put one of IAS’s feeding systems on his ranch.
I can get excited about these systems. At least in theory. The idea is very much like the indoor farms I’d like to build across the country. Those farms would supply a variety of fruits and vegetables to an entire community, while the system I’m showing Dean specifically grows the feed the rancher needs for his livestock. But the idea is the same—an indoor space that protects the plants from extreme weather, seasonal changes, pests, and disease, making terrain and climate a moot point.
“You too.” Dean turns to the young man beside him. “And this is my son, Tyler.”
“Hi, Tyler.”
Tyler takes my hand with a grin. “I was an agricultural engineering major in college. All of this is right up my alley.”
“Oh, great.”
He just gives me a wink as he shakes my hand.
I really hope that’s great. He could be an asset in this meeting if he’s into new, innovative ways of growing food.
Dean is probably in his mid-fifties. He is in a faded Nebraska Huskers T-shirt, blue jeans, and cowboy boots that are scuffed and obviously worn a lot.
Tyler, on the other hand, is wearing jeans, a button-down shirt, and cowboy boots that are very clean and look almost new. He can’t be much older than me. He is also very good-looking.
“I figured Tyler should be here to help me explain all of this to everyone else,” Dean says. “The guys all think I’m nuts to even be talking with you.”
“Why’s that?” I try really hard not to frown.
“Well, it’s expensive as hell,” he says with a chuckle. “And we’ve been getting by all this time. The guys think we’re getting a little excited about things.”
