One Size Fits None: A Farm Girl’s Search for the Promise of Regenerative Agriculture

The opening chapter of Part 1 introduces Ryan Roth, who is vice president of Roth Farms, a conventional vegetable and sugarcane farm located in Belle Glade, Florida, which is part of the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA). Even though the farm is large (around 3,500 acres) and employs 130 people, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) considers it a family farm, where one family owns the majority of the farm’s business. Roth Farms, like other large-scale and midsize family farms, operates akin to a corporation. His family members hold positions similar to a corporation’s board.

In contrast to Anderson’s childhood, the farm was not a large part of Ryan’s youth because the farm was located some distance from his home. He began to visit the farm more as he grew older, although it was not until college that he decided he wanted to run the farm. Anderson asks Ryan whether he describes himself as a farmer, manager of a farm, or owner of a company. While Ryan notes that he loves “growing the crop now” (12), he does not directly answer Anderson’s question. Anderson believes it is more accurate to say that Ryan “loves the job of managing employees, field rotations, machinery repair, and spray schedules required to grow the crop” (13), since he is not actually the one in the field doing the physical labor.