My name is Zach Eder.
I'm the Technology Development
Manager for Advanta Seeds.
My name is Sarah Eder.
I am a Physics, AP Physics,
and Biotechnology teacher
at El Campo High School.
Sarah and I met at Texas A&M.
We wanted to work in some
of the latest technology
that was being developed,
and we wanted to find ways
to teach people about it
and also to develop new ways
of using this technology.
I'm responsible for new
technologies such as
our herbicide-tolerant
grain sorghum program,
as well as the general research agronomist
for our corn seed and our
grain sorghum business,
as well as supporting our producers
agronomically throughout the season.
Getting on a plane to Kansas one week
and Georgia the next week,
you go visit test plots
in northern New York.
It's a great challenge,
and it's a great responsibility
that you need to be
an expert whenever you
get boots on the ground
in that location.
We moved to El Campo, Texas.
That's where Sarah got started
with the biotechnology programs
that she's been working with.
She had laid out a plan
with the school district
that if we can get the funding,
all I need you is to commit.
So a few years went by,
it finally got to be the right time.
I wrote the grant,
and we received the $10,000 grant
to start our biotechnology class.
So much of what we talk
about is the plant side
and the agricultural side.
With genetic modified organisms,
because it's applicable in the area,
and there's a lot of
misinformation out there.
Most of my kids are not farm kids.
I want them to have the
knowledge and the background
to make intelligent decisions.
Having a spouse that
shares the same interest,
I could not imagine it another way.
Not being able to talk about work
or being able to bounce off ideas
is just kind of unfathomable to me.
I get to understand what he does at work,
and I can contribute to the conversation
and vice versa with my biotech.
He's there to give me new ideas,
and say, "Hey, this is what
they're doing in agriculture now."
I get to incorporate that into my class
so my kids are up to date,
because we share the same interest
and the same sort of line of work.
There's busy seasons.
Agriculture and education,
we live by the seasons.
But we have such a great support system
that it makes it manageable.
We buckle down, and we make
it through the busy months.
Without us as a family
unit, doing it all together,
none of this is possible.
We can both achieve our goals,
but we kind of have to be a good tag team.
Our mission through
our jobs is really to
advertise and promote agriculture
and teach people.
Teach farmers how to farm better,
how to use their resources wisely,
and for me to teach students
what is agriculture.
