Meet Jason McCobb

We were lucky to catch up with Jason McCobb recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jason, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

My purpose found me. I started out with the mission of building a local food system, I never signed on to teach kids. I wanted to be a farmer and grow food. Coming from a customer service background, I was taught to never say no. Instead of no I would say: “Let me see what is possible.” This is exactly how I booked my very first Jr Sprouts class over 15 years ago. A mother from the Boca Raton Girls Scouts asked me if I would teach a class to the Girl Scouts and you now know what I said. I didn’t realize at the time, but I had agreed to teaching all 300 Girl Scouts in Boca. I wrote a class curriculum for them and it went great! They loved and I loved it! Now I offer over 25 different classes and I have had tens of thousands of kids come through my program. Last year was my biggest year ever with over 2,500 kids coming through.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Since 2010 I have been Farmer Jay and over the years my business has evolved, but one thing has stayed true….my mission of building a local food system. Don’t get me wrong I love growing amazing food, selling to chefs, and finding it on the menu at the top restaurants, but that’s contributing to a local food system. I also love building beautiful kitchen gardens for people at their home to grow food, but again contributing to a local food system. To truly build a local food system we have to teach the next generation. What we grow up doing, we do when we are grown. Kids must learn how to grow food and respect for nature. To accomplish this we need to change our relationship with food and pay more attention and care more about where it comes from. So I work harder and come up with new ways to teach kids. My latest project is an app that includes my lessons and a chatbot that is 7 year old Farmer Jay and my dog named Moose.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I first have to mention the Army that taught me respect and to not quit just because it is hard. It is under pressure where amazing solutions come from. Second was launching RedBull energy drink in South Florida. I was one of the first employees hired by the company in Florida and had the honor of learning from one of the best marketed products ever. This gave me the knowledge, experience, and courage to later start my own beverage distribution company. Third was working at The Breakers in Palm Beach. This is where I refined my customer service expertise and became a farmer. The Breakers taught me the highest customer service standards and gave me my first break at growing food. You never know where life is going to lead you and where the path you are one will take you. It’s like crossing a stream, sometimes you gotta jump to that first rock before you can see the next move. Even though where you are might not be where you want to be, you never know who you will meet or what’s around the next corner.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?

Over the past 12 months I have embraced A.I. and learned how to use it. Many people, especially older people like me are dead set against it or don’t understand it. The best way I can describe how I use it is as a tool belt. It is able to provide the help I need no matter what the task and I am able to do and learn things now that would not have been possible 12 months ago. So if you have worries about using A.I. and are using a tippy toe to test the water, jump on in! The water is great!

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