Article

Admittedly, I left Ohio in 2022. New York’s farm country called me to pursue a degree in higher education.

It was new, different and one of those “leave to experience” moments in life. But there is one reason I continue to come back—a constant pulling factor: my Ohio agriculture community.

I’ve said this many times during my FFA career, but I have a nontraditional agriculture background. I proudly claim suburban Lucas County as home, but since the age of 12, I worked vegetable fields and began a landscaping business. I would later work at a vertical tomato greenhouse, which sparked my love for horticulture.

Core learning in those high school years came from FFA, of course. The principles of career technical education are ideals I later advocated for during my college education at Cornell University, where I am now a senior.

But from the beginning, Ohio Farm Bureau was always there—regardless of the rural-urban juxtaposition of Toledo. I attended meetings with my tomato greenhouse boss and then-state Farm Bureau trustee, Wade Smith, and met many other vegetable growers and members early on.

I knew I was different, not coming from a grain or livestock operation, which gave ample opportunity to learn about one of Ohio’s largest industries when I traveled for two years as an Ohio FFA state officer. Farm Bureau soon became my next stop as an Ohio State Fair intern.

The Land and Living exhibit was my claim to fame. Fellow interns and I built the Crops and Water Path, an elaborate landscaped experience that taught visitors about water quality, cover crops and soil conservation. These principles resonated deeply with me, as someone directly impacted by Toledo’s 2014 water quality crisis and a strong advocate for long-term H2Ohio investments.

The internship allowed me to engage directly with farmer members and Ohio’s political landscape. I think back to the opportunity to teach the now U.S. Vice President, JD Vance, about cover crops while he was on the campaign trail for the Senate.

The individuals I met in those early years are the same farmers I call upon today when I have questions as an agriculture journalist. I think about my time on Lane Osswald’s farm learning about no-till, checking out cover crop fields with Nathan Brown, or composting with Nate Andre, among others who shaped how I think about land stewardship.

I spent all four years involved in my collegiate Farm Bureau chapter at Cornell, serving as an officer for three. I represented New York in the national Discussion Meet competition in 2024 and helped develop an ecosystem where university students discussed agriculture policy alongside industry leaders and academic faculty across New York.

Other experiences crucial to my career include working as a constituent aide in the Ohio Legislature, joining the airwaves as a farm broadcaster for the Ohio Ag Net team and interning in international affairs with the World Food Prize Foundation.

Agriculture communications soon became not just a reality, but a rhythm. I spent a summer as a congressional reporter and editorial intern for Agri-Pulse Communications, the largest agriculture reporting team in Washington, D.C.

Now, I regularly contribute news and analysis on agrifood policy around the world as a journalist. The world became my oyster—from frequent travel to the Netherlands, inspired by their efficiency in farming, to living in Austria for six months, and reporting from Kenya and more than a dozen other countries.

I believe that any country reliant on agricultural trade must understand the global food system it participates in. Journalism, farm newspapers in particular, are central to the future of discourse on farm issues. Asking tough questions in our rural communities and commodity sectors leads to solutions that strengthen livelihoods and farm income.

Still, Ohio never left my reach. It’s what I know best. For local publications such as Farm & Dairy, The Toledo Blade, Toledo Free Press and Springfield Hub, I began profiling leaders and uncovering stories I felt compelled to tell. Many of those words now live in this magazine, where I contribute as a writer for Ohio Farm Bureau.

Maybe like yours, my story mirrors that of millions, where agriculture skipped a generation.
The Zajkowski potato farm that closed in 2000, before I was born, still sits as prime farmland in northern Michigan. Brown Dairy milk jugs sit on my shelf at home—the farm my grandmother grew up on in Logan, Ohio.

I know one day I will return to that legacy, not far from my family’s roots, putting years of conversations about farm profitability and horticulture science into practice. Will those farming practices and perspectives on land use be different? Absolutely. That should be expected of the next generation of farmers. Until then, my goal is to equip the food system with the information and news it needs for transformation.

Farm Bureau, I guarantee, will be part of the next chapter—writing about farmer members across the country, reporting on ag policy developments and maybe even operating my own farm one day.

It’s a great place to belong, to farm and to build a career.

Jake Zajkowski is a Lucas County Farm Bureau member and a freelance writer for Our Ohio.