Juan Quinonez Zepeda began working on cattle ranches in northern Mississippi at the age of 14. In 2024, he launched his family’s own operation, Cebadilla Ranch, in Senatobia, Mississippi. Through his work as a labor & agricultural researcher and a regenerative rancher, Juan is dedicated to protecting and caring for the land, animals, and ancestral Mexican knowledge.
Beyond the ranch, Juan serves as a Program Associate at the Wallace Center, is a Deputy Commissioner for Tate County’s Soil and Water Conservation District, and is an Assembling Voices Fellow at Columbia University’s Incite Institute. He is a former Root and Bloom Fellow with the National Young Farmers Coalition, and also serves as a researcher, farmworker advocate, and speaker in partnership with various organizations.
Juan holds a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from Dartmouth College.
Select Experiences
Co-Founder & Co-Owner, Cebadilla Ranch
Program Associate, The Wallace Center
Deputy Commissioner, Tate County Soil and Water Conservation District (Mississippi)
Co-Founder, FUERZA Farmworkers’ Fund
Grant Reviewer, USDA
Consultant for The Metropolitan Group
Fellow, National Young Farmers Coalition
Assembling Voices Fellow, The Incite Institute at Columbia University
Featured in
Ole Miss
■
The Mississippi Museum of Art
■
Columbia University
■
The Southeastern Geographer
■
Southern Cultures
■
Living Roots Magazine
■
The Daily Mississippian
■
Motivos Magazine
■
Ole Miss ■ The Mississippi Museum of Art ■ Columbia University ■ The Southeastern Geographer ■ Southern Cultures ■ Living Roots Magazine ■ The Daily Mississippian ■ Motivos Magazine ■
About Cebadilla Ranch
Founded in 2024, Cebadilla Ranch is a family cattle ranch on the bluff of the Mississippi Delta in Senatobia, Mississippi. Currently operating as a stocker operation, the ranch hopes to expand to a cow-calf operation in the years to come. The ranch focuses on implementing regenerative agricultural practices and creating the most stress-free environment possible for cattle. Together, the family brings over 50 years of collective knowledge of the beef industry and sources and sells locally with a focus on supporting those around it.