My grandfather was a mover and shaker in the Colorado sugar beet industry with Great Western Sugar, and he was also a professor of agriculture at Colorado State University. But the ag roots my brother and sisters and I most appreciated were the ones associated with trips to the Western Stock Show, Little Britches Rodeo and Colorado State Fair.

We rarely missed a show together. It was during those fun days we became closely acquainted with the importance of agriculture in Colorado as we met my gra...