family background/ Claire is a fifth-generation farmer planning to attend Washington State University for an agribusiness degree. She has one sister, Eva, and is the daughter of Sarah and John Rasch.
age/ 17
hometown/ Grand Rapids, Michigan
crop/ Apples
role/Student, orchard scout and intern
business/ Genesis Ag and LTI Ag Research

What are you currently doing in agriculture?

I currently have two part-time jobs. In one, I’m working as an orchard scout, and the other is as a field intern. As a scout, I’m going around different orchards in West Michigan, looking for pests and diseases and doing assorted trap counts. I’m assessing the crop for damage and predicted damage, sending that in to growers and in to my dad to create a spray program. At my second job, at LTI, I am recording data for trials. There are over 200 trials this year (in 2024), and the most data collection comes from the thinning trials. So, I’m counting blossoms, counting clusters of apples and measuring them across the entire season. One of the most exciting things I get to do is testing new technology, like using FarmView scanning software.

How are you balancing the jobs and high school?

That’s just being in agriculture. It’s kind of no sleep. You get up early, go to work in the summer; then during school, just go straight to work after school. It’s time management, it’s not like I have a daily schedule for homework and stuff. I’ll make time to do homework in a block of time. My schedule with the jobs is pretty flexible, so I might work more on scouting one day and more on research the next.

What are you looking for in college horticulture programs?

One of the most important things is a program’s connections and the networking it has with a variety of growers. How closely does the school interact with growers around their area? What opportunities do they have for students to have in-field work outside? Because you can spend all day in a classroom learning about apples or whatever, but you don’t really, truly understand any part of how to grow them unless you’re out there. I’m looking at how much the university values work outside of the classroom and the relationship with growers around them.

What would you advise other young growers?

I would encourage girls to get into agriculture. The No. 1 thing that I’ve noticed, whenever I go to conferences and meetings, is that I can count on my 10 fingers the only girls in the room. So the biggest thing that I would like to say to my peers is, if you’re a girl, don’t be afraid to break into the industry. What needs to move forward in the industry is more women in agriculture.