On agriculture, discovery and diversity: An interview with Agustín Olivo

Agustín is one of those people you can laugh about anything with. Seriously—just ask him about his "fun manure times." But no matter what you talk about, whether it’s his passion for agriculture and science, or staying open-minded, you finish the conversation inspired to find new opportunities for yourself.

One of the things I love most about my job is that it brings me into contact with people from around the world through various grant programs. In February and March 2019, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln had the pleasure of hosting our third cohort of the Friends of Fulbright Argentina undergraduate exchange program.

As we prepared for the program, I heard from the English instructor that a current graduate student from Argentina was very interested in assisting with the grant and peer ambassador program. This is how I met Agustín Olivo.

On agriculture

Agustín, it turns out, is not only originally from Argentina—he was also a UNL alumnus of the Friends of Fulbright program, from our first cohort in 2017. After returning to Argentina and completing his undergraduate degree back home, Agustín came back to Nebraska in Fall 2018 to begin his master’s degree in Mechanized Systems Management with a specialization in Water Resources Management and Planning.

I have to be honest: that’s a lot of big words in his degree that I don’t really know the meaning of. More accurately, I don’t really know what a degree in that translates to. But Agustín tells me that it boils down to agriculture and science. Those words, I understand.

Ever since he was little, Agustín has cultivated a passion for agriculture and the science behind it.

“My hometown [San Antonio de Litin in Córdoba, Argentina] has about 1,500 people, so really similar to a rural Nebraska town. My house, for example, is directly in front of an agricultural field.”

Being close to nature and agriculture proved to have a strong impact on Agustín from a young age. As early as elementary school, he had discovered the answer to the age-old question, What do you want to be when you grow up?

“Even when I was in elementary, I said that I could be an agricultural engineer!”

“We had this event in elementary, where we had to dress up what we would like to be in the future, and I remember dressing like some sort of farmer,” he laughs as he tells me about his childhood dream.

Young Agustín was a serious student of agriculture. At 10 years old, he claimed a small area of land next to his parents’ business where he would plant seeds and grow vegetables, thrilled by the cycle of planting, growing and harvesting. Agustín also talked himself into attending agricultural education classes at his sister’s high school where they were studying rabbit production for meat. His interest was piqued again, and he began raising rabbits at home as well.

Eventually, when he turned 18, Agustín moved to the big city of Córdoba to begin his undergraduate degree in Agricultural Engineering.

“After going into my degree, my interests expanded a lot and I discovered many other sides of my profession. That’s why I got involved in many things, and one of those was research.”

Research became a pivotal experience for Agustín in his college career, and he eagerly participated in multiple studies as well as extension projects with the community. In fact, research continues to play a crucial role in his graduate education as a research assistant with Nebraska’s Dr. Amy Schmidt. The current project he’s working on with her focuses on manure.

Yes, you read that right, no typos—manure. Agustín spends a good deal of his time researching and talking about manure, and he loves it.

At this point, you may be wondering what in my right mind convinced me to write an "inspiring" story about someone who enjoys working with cow poop. I can tell you this was the same alarm going off in Agustín’s head when he received the first email from his research lab leader asking if everyone was “looking forward to fun manure times”—Am I in the right place? But hear us out, and maybe you’ll be convinced of the power of Agustín’s so-called “wonder drug of soil,” as he referred to in his April 2019 Science Slam presentation. 

Led by his advisor Dr. Schmidt and other faculty from the Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Agustín is working on a statewide project funded by the Nebraska Environmental Trust called Transforming Manure and Cedar Mulch: From Waste to Worth. The end goals are both theoretical and practical applications as the team evaluates if the combination of manure and cedar mulch can improve soil fertility for crop growth, and educates the community about its benefits.

“I think the idea of building more environmentally friendly and sustainable agricultural systems through science, engaging people in science, is so important.”

Currently, the project has six different research sites across the state of Nebraska. Dr. Schmidt and the team are also working in partnership with various institutions, including the Natural Resources District, Nebraska Forest Service, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and others. On the extension side of things, the team is also partnering with local middle and high schools across the state of Nebraska to educate youth about the project and scientific research.

“I really enjoy the extension side. The idea for the students is to kind of follow the research process since the beginning, and to be able to appreciate the power of research and what research is about. It’s about how science and research can really help solve all these problems, find the best way we can do things.”

Since the beginning of the Spring 2019 semester, Agustín has visited schools in multiple small towns across rural Nebraska. I joke with him that he’s probably been to more parts of Nebraska than most Nebraskans have at this point, and he agrees. The project currently has about 70 to 80 students involved in the extension side, working with schools in Julian, Pierce, Ainsworth, St. Paul, Overton, Elm Creek and Brule.

“I’m really supportive of people in STEM and increasing people’s interest in STEM because I think science is the way. Science and research are one of the proven successful ways to solve problems people have. Following the scientific method where you test the hypothesis and apply certain methods then have a conclusion you repeat many times over—it’s the best way to find solutions for things that are sustainable in time.”

Now, I have another confession to make, one that is potentially blasphemous as a native Nebraskan: I haven’t always thought of agriculture as important. Thankfully, I have since learned that agriculture impacts everyone’s life in a myriad of ways after getting to know passionate advocates like Agustín. So before I move on to the next part of his story, I thought this would be an important reminder to finish on agriculture.

As Agustín frames it, agriculture is critical to humans because it touches every aspect of our life.

“Agriculture is really important because it’s literally what we’re eating every day, among other vital things,” Agustín tells me. “I like saying that eating is an agricultural act.”

“Everything we eat and we do, what we have, goods and services—they’re related in some way to agriculture. I think agriculture is the key thing, as well as natural resource management, because it’s where we get our food and ecosystem services that make our lives possible.”

On discovery

Interwoven into Agustín’s story, as I noticed when I first met him, is the theme of discovery, of trying and getting involved with new things. Even as we talk about agriculture, he constantly brings up how his knowledge and interests in the field have grown in many different aspects as he’s continued to try out new opportunities, even those unrelated to his major.

“I think being involved, trying new things, has been really impactful for me, to be here, to be who I am right now. My interests have all been really shaped by other activities during my college experience. I gained another perspective of things through these, and also, I got to know other people and expand my view or opinions.”

“When you get involved in things, you’re also helping others grow, and situations, organizations and people grow. That’s also really inspiring and a huge satisfaction.”

Even while pursuing his graduate degree, Agustín remains actively involved at the university, from being a member on the CASNR Advisory Board, to serving as President for his department’s Graduate Student Association, and actively going to the Campus Recreation Center.

But discovering new opportunities, finding activities to be involved in, is not always easy to do. Staying in our comfort zone can be the easiest option at times, and I know I also find myself struggling to find the motivation to move beyond it sometimes.

“I think it’s something you need to cultivate or grow in; it’s not something that will happen from one day to another,” he tells me when I ask how he moves beyond that fear. “You just start experiencing things that will make you more open-minded and open to new things.”

For Agustín, one of the biggest periods of discovery was his time as a Friends of Fulbright Argentina student. The program, sponsored by the Fulbright Commission Argentina and the U.S. Embassy in Argentina, provides scholarships to upper-level Argentine university students to come to the U.S. for six weeks and study the English language and American culture, observe classes in their academic disciplines, and participate in cultural activities. As he describes it, the program was one of those moments that changed his life a lot.

But among his excitement in getting accepted to the program was one resounding question: Where is Nebraska?

“No, no, and you can highlight that,” Agustín laughs when I ask him if he knew about the state before his arrival. “I didn’t know anything about Nebraska.”

But he quickly grew to love the state, not only for its agricultural background, but for the people as well.

“Everyone is really willing to help all the time. That for sure makes Nebraska feel like home and feeling like you are in a good place, or you belong to.”

“At the beginning, it was more like, ‘Yeah, let’s go there and see what it is.’ I’m sure it will be cool but I didn’t know that much about it at all. Then at some point, it was me and five other people that had agricultural backgrounds and when we discovered how strong UNL is in agriculture stuff, we realized we’re in the right place.”

“Of course, that shaped my decision in coming back [for grad school], how I got to know the university and how strong the ag programs are here… Nebraska is the right place to come. But I think that since the beginning, I always highlight [to others back home] how welcoming and nice people in Nebraska are.”

For Agustín, discovering the Friends of Fulbright program and consciously making a decision to explore new activities, meet new people and go to all of the events he could during his six weeks really shaped him as a person. By recognizing he had a limited amount of time at Lincoln (at least on the undergraduate program), he decided to take full advantage of every moment he could. Ultimately, it led lasting friendships and connections that inspired him to return for his graduate degree.

“I always try to explain that opportunities are always closer than we think we are. We just need to be willing to take the risks and go for them,” Agustín says.

“I’m aware that I’m a really privileged guy to have access and opportunities for all these things. But at the same time, I believe a lot of opportunities are out there and people can access them, you just need to do the first step and ask somebody what you’re interested in.”

On diversity

As Agustín stated, the key to discovering new opportunities is being open-minded in one’s approach to the world. This open-mindedness, he says, has also led to a respect for diversity.

“For me, to go from this small town where we’re not exposed to huge diversity in terms of religion, cultures and things like that, to be in Nebraska where you see people from all over the world—you start growing and building on that, experiencing and being more aware of diversity.”

“You realize that behind every culture, every food, every religion, there are people exactly the same on some levels. There are these differences, yes, but we are all people eventually.”

But diversity can mean different things to different people. It has a diverse definition. So I ask him the tough question: What does diversity mean to Agustín?

“Diversity is like… differences in culture, religion, food, opinions, sexual orientations and all those kinds of things. Diversity is all the things that we define, it’s opinions and thoughts and ways of processing and expressing things. But it’s also deeper than that.”

As he pauses to process his thoughts, he jokes that our interview has become too much introspection for his engineering mind.

“I feel like when you expose yourself to other cultures, when you go to a different country, you learn how to understand and handle other people’s views, how they process information and express things.”

Agustín reiterates to me again how much being exposed to different people has changed him for the better, from traveling outside of his own country, to getting involved with various organizations and even visiting different schools across Nebraska. His final message to share with the world is explore the world and embrace diversity.

“I would tell people that there’s a lot out there to get to know. It’s a huge learning experience for you and the way you do your own things, to get to know people of other cultures and experience diversity.”

What I’ve learned from Agustín

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with and get to know Agustín Olivo better. While many facets of his story ring deeply true with my own values, I am impressed by the way he can draw connections between people and opportunities, and the energy he brings making people aware of new things. I truly hope our paths continue to cross at UNL (and I’m sure they will with his active involvement), mostly because of how easy our conversation is and how entertaining he is. Seriously, you should watch his talk on manure if you haven’t already.

I also know that I can learn much more from Agustín still. But the three important lessons I’ve learned today are:

1. Agriculture connects the world; respect it.
2. Follow your interests, but never shy away from new opportunities or be scared of discovery.
3. Behind all of our cultural differences is the same human being. Diversity is what empowers us.

Thank you, Agustín, for allowing me to share a little bit of your wisdom and entertainment. I look forward to learning more about the power of manure (okay, maybe a little questionable) and begin inspired by your drive to find new opportunities.