I am Shaikha AlMansoori, a freshman majoring in Agricultural Science and minoring in Food Systems. I’m an international student and just turned 18 last month! I came from a large desert and a modern and beautiful country, the United Arab Emirates. This blog post is for international students who entered this field with passion and used their community words to become stronger. AGSC is an exciting major, but people tend to look at us with inferior looks and call us “farmers” with that tone. But looking from the bright side, we are lucky because we can see the seedling grow and smell the soil after watering it, which brings life to us.
Where I came from! The UAE has a really harsh weather temperature which causes drought. Thus, we can’t use our soil to grow food. So mainly, we depend on importing food from nearby countries or spending money on greenhouses and indoor growing, which is not an efficient and effective way. Also, agriculture is what grew my country to what it is right now. Personally, we are Bedouins; we have a strong attachment to our heritage, which not all Emirati are. My parents have palm tree farms and workers who take care of the farm. My father is into growing and loves dates, and we harvest them yearly as they grow in our climate and have different types of dates. I used to watch him breed the trees, which was really interesting because I had never seen a tree that could be produced by human interaction.
I was looking for an opportunity to learn more about plants in different areas of the world and other practices. That is when I found the Student Farm and applied for it immediately, because I really wanted to learn and explore! I was hoping to learn about the soil and practices used at the farm. During my hours on the farm, I learned the basics of farming, such as seeding, soil mixing, and the tools used. I used these practices during the spring and understood how the farm works and is managed. I remember when I started volunteering to complete my hours, I worked with previous interns who guided me and taught me how to do things correctly, such as cultivating using the correct hoe, transplanting the seedlings into the beds using tools that make the work easier with large quantities, and setting the drip irrigation, which was time-consuming but fun. We also fixed the holes in the hose and needed to cut and connect the hose with the connecter which gave me the doctor’s vibe. It is an exciting opportunity to learn and apply what we are studying, which makes it more fun than having to learn and take an exam on it.
I hope you enjoyed reading my blog post, understanding me better, and learning from my experience. I hope you have a great day!