“I see systems. That’s why I like surfing. Surfing has all these moving dynamics: reefs, currents, wind, waves, people.” This is the answer I got when I asked farmer and agricultural innovator, Jay Ruskey, what makes him a good farmer. As we drove in his truck up the 101 highway from Ventura, California, visiting one of his network farmers, back to his farm north of Santa Barbara, Jay recounted his entry point into farming. He motioned out to the ocean just as much as he pointed out farming operations that fan up the coastal mountains. “When you ride a good wave, you’re like, I just mastered that dynamic system. And what we do in farming is optimize our dynamics. From day to day, hour to hour, and year to year, it’s a dynamic system.”