HUMAN INTEREST

Two accidents. Two recoveries. Two back braces hanging on an office wall. And one lesson a California dairy nutritionist learned the hard way: “Professionally, we’re all replaceable. But family? That’s different.”

Five fang punctures and a motherlode of venom: Jeremy Sons was in the fight of his life.

As nearby development limits room to expand its herd, Cozy Nook Farm relies on seasonal sales and direct customer connections to invest in its dairy and keep the farm thriving.

As we traveled and talked, we got to know each other. We were a diverse group, but we discovered common interests and struggles involving everything from weather and pests to technology access and the frustration of regulations that make more sense beneath the fluorescent lights of air-conditioned offices in capital cities than they do to the men and women who work outside and grow food.

Five years after her late brother, Levi, won grand champion, 12-year-old Lynnox Tysinger honored his memory with an emotional victory in the exact same show ring, leaning on the family’s rule to “just keep driving.”

Drought forced Kentucky farmer Quint Pottinger to cut costs. His answer: a driverless retrofit kit, a smaller tractor and an 8-row planter that now plant his 2,000 acres of row crops on their own.

Jana Gaebert is a good farmer. What really sets her apart, however, is her leadership. She is a powerful advocate for farmers.

On September 11, 2001, Dan Baginski should have been at his desk on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center’s South Tower. Instead, he was 3,000 miles away — milking cows at the Washington State Fair.