Sabrina Servais, third-generation farmer and Assistant Herd Manager at her family’s Organic Valley dairy farm in Wisconsin, has a soundtrack to her life’s story: “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” by Tears for Fears.
“What gets me about it is that opening line, ‘Welcome to your life. There’s no turning back,’” says Servais, recalling the twists and turns that led her from being a small-town farm girl to office worker, and back to the family farm she once couldn’t wait to leave.
Servais excelled as a student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she dreamed of working in science communications in a big city: “I was president of the Association of Women in Agriculture, I was the officer on all these different organizations, I had good grades, and I was taking theater classes and art classes and astronomy classes,” says Servais. “I was going to have it all, you know?”
When she landed an internship with Organic Valley, Servais felt these dreams were becoming a reality: “I was so pumped. I was working with these passionate, talented, intelligent people. They care so deeply for the small farmers across America, and they were so excited to go to work every day.”
Still, Servais says something felt off. Instead of spending time with her fellow intern friends, she wanted to have dinner with her family. Her favorite part of the day was when she could go home to bring the cows in from the pasture.
To her family and friends’ surprise, Servais returned home to the farm after graduating in May 2022. It wasn’t an easy choice, she says, after spending so many years working to leave the farm. But slowly, she began to rediscover her purpose.
Servais immersed herself in both her internship and farm work. Eventually, she realized that making an impact in the world doesn’t necessarily mean leaving home, working in a big city, and traveling the globe. Her small actions every day—feeding calves, letting cows onto pasture, and cultivating healthy soils—play a significant role in building the future that she wants, for both herself and her community.
“If we want to protect the hundreds of places like my family farm, it takes all of us making little decisions every day. Choices in the grocery store, choices walking home, picking up litter, recycling. A hundred little things add up,” says Servais. “There are billions of people in this world, and if we all do a hundred little things, we can change the world.”
This article is part of Food Tank’s ongoing Farmer Friday series, produced in partnership with Niman Ranch, a champion for independent U.S. family farmers. The series highlights the stories of farmers working toward a more sustainable, equitable food system. Niman Ranch partners with over 500 small-scale U.S. family farmers and is committed to preserving rural agricultural communities and their way of life. Food Tank was proud to collaborate with Niman Ranch in lifting up family farmer stories, including Servais’, at Climate Week NYC: A Night of Storytelling Honoring Our Farmers. Watch her story and others on Food Tank’s YouTube channel.
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Photo courtesy of Sabrina Servais
