One person Daniel continues learning from is his granddaughter Brielle Carter, a UD Class of 2026 agriculture and natural resources major.
“It’s a balance between experience and innovation,” Daniel said. “The regulations and technology frustrate me at times, but the younger generation takes it in stride.”
From working at the stand to interning at the Delaware Farm Bureau, Brielle Carter now aims to share her agricultural knowledge through agribusiness communications.
“A lot of people didn’t know how their food was grown and where it came from,” Brielle said. “Sharing that knowledge was something that really sparked an interest in me.”
For the Vanderwendes, agriculture isn’t just a career path, it’s a family tradition, and they continue to plant roots in Delaware’s soils with every new generation.
“As a first-generation college student, I never imagined so many of my children and relatives would attend UD and enter agriculture,” Daniel said. “General agriculture allowed me to study a little bit of everything, which has been useful throughout my career, so it’s really gratifying to see education and farming go hand in hand across generations.”
