 My name is Marlon Bates. I'm a horticulture specialist with University of Missouri Extension. I applied for the SAIR Sustainable Ag Fellowship largely because I read the reviews from previous fellows. It certainly looked like an awesome opportunity. Of all the professional development opportunities that come across my desk, the SAIR Sustainable Ag Fellowship looked like it was going to have a lot of promise in terms of educating me about sustainable agriculture, not just in my region or even within my own discipline, but many disciplines within agriculture across the country. What I've gotten out of the SAIR Sustainable Ag Fellowship is a lot more than I ever expected. Certainly I've gained a better understanding of what sustainable agriculture is. And that's come, you know, of course because of the tours that we take and the farms that we visit when we're on those tours, but also from the conversation that we have as we're kind of going over our tour stops. So we'll get back on the bus from a tour stop and really drill down to what were those things at that operation that made this place sustainable or what were some of the things that they could be doing that would make them a little bit more sustainable. And I think that's really where I've gained a better appreciation, a broader perspective of what sustainable ag is. Another thing that I've really gotten out of the Sustainable Ag Fellowship is the opportunity to see first hand a lot of different operations. It was a horticulture specialist. I don't really spend much time in a corn field or a bean field or at a dairy or other cattle operation, but this fellowship really allowed me to be in those places. And it didn't just allow me to see what was going on there. It allowed me the opportunity to engage with that producer. And you know, quite frankly, some of my fellows that were in my group, you know, that's their specialty. So a dairy specialist at the dairy, I can watch that dairy specialist interact and engage that producer. And that was another thing that I really took away from this opportunity was just watching that and gaining that other perspective from, you know, disciplines outside of horticulture. So that's another thing I really feel like I took a lot out of, not just being able to see this stuff or talk to the farmers that are at the farms that we're visiting, but also just watching my colleagues, colleagues from across the country who I didn't know before, but now I'm good friends with and watch how they engage a producer when they're talking about their operation or talking about sustainability. And the final thing I think I took away from the Sustainable Ag Fellowship was just the experience. You know, I can't remember how many times since I started the fellowship that I've been standing in a producer's field, and I'm directly recalling something from a visit that we had in Maryland or the farm that we visited in Colorado. And I'm able to use that information to help that producer, my client. And without this fellowship, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to do that.