Empowering Women in Agriculture
Annie's Project Designed for Women in Agriculture Starts February 6, 2014
Annie's Project is an introductory agricultural risk management program designed to empower women in managing farm business decision making. The target audience is farm women with a passion for business and an involvement in today's farming industry.
Now in its third year in New York, Annie's Project is a six-week course designed for today's technology based information systems used in agricultural business decision making and will help participants build a network of personal support regionally and statewide.
The program will run for six consecutive Thursdays, February 6 through March 13, 2014, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., which includes a lunch to encourage networking among participants. Sessions will combine lecture, discussion, individual and small group activities, and software training and address risk management in agricultural production, farm business planning, financial statements, recordkeeping, marketing, estate planning and employee relations.
Cornell Cooperative Extension educators and Annie's Project co-leaders David Cox and Bonnie Collins secured funding from USDA to collaborate with Cooperative Extension agriculture educators statewide to facilitate the 2014 Annie's Project (introductory, level I) curriculum.
Cooperative Extension offices in Orange, Ulster, Schoharie/Otsego, Columbia/Greene, Essex, St. Lawrence, Lewis, Oneida, Tompkins, Wyoming, Wayne, and Chautauqua Counties will serve as host sites, allowing for significant participation by women from surrounding counties as well. Pre-registration is required. The registration deadline is Friday, January 10, 2014. To register, contact David Cox at (518) 234-4303/296-8310 or email dgc23@cornell.edu or Bonnie Collins at (315) 736-3394 Ext 104, or contact your local Cornell Cooperative Extension educator for more information and for the host site nearest to you. The cost to participate is $60 per person, which includes lunch, all course materials, and handouts. A limited number of scholarships are available upon inquiry.
The National Annie's Project Initiative
Women in agriculture are the backbone of support in the health and sustainability of the agricultural community. While many women are running farms and entering farming in increasing numbers, others currently are significant partners by providing record-keeping services, labor, labor management, and machinery operations while maintaining the family structure and often holding off-farm positions.
The 2007 Census of Agriculture confirms that women have a growing presence in U.S. agriculture. The number of women farmers as principal operators has increased in New York State by 18% from 2002 to 2007, outpacing the 2% decrease in the total number of farmers overall. Even more intriguing is the 29% rise of women as principal operators versus the 4% rise of all principal operators across the nation.
As women take a more active role in production, they also are becoming more involved in day-to-day operations on the farm as well as becoming involved with organizations, such as Farm Bureau. Helping women contribute more efficiently will create significant gains for both the community and in the family unit.
2013 marks the 10th anniversary of Annie's Project. Founder Ruth Hambleton, a retired University of Illinois Extension agricultural economist, created Annie's Project in 2003 in honor of her mother, Annette Fleck. Fleck married a farmer and faced the challenges of managing a multi-generational household and a farm.
"As a child I watched my mother run our farm, handling the bookkeeping and financial decision-making," Hambleton said. "She later took on the physical labor when my father took an off-farm job to make ends meet. I married a farmer and delivered educational programming to women for more than 25 years as an Extension employee."
Along the way, Hambleton said she realized that many women were not getting the full benefit of workshops intended to help them. So she set out to create a program that would give women a comfortable place to share experiences and network while learning business, computer and interpersonal skills.
"Women have a unique way of learning," Hambleton said. "They like to share experiences and need to feel comfortable asking questions. Extension programming provides valuable, research-based information that women need. But if they are embarrassed to ask questions or say they don't understand the material, they won't benefit from it."
Hambleton concludes that the program's format is the key to its success. Women get to talk about what matters to them, share their ideas and experiences and get training that helps them fulfill their responsibilities as farm women.
To learn more, visit http://www.extension.iastate.edu/feci/annie/materials.html
Annie's Project is provided by Cornell Cooperative Extensions across New York State, and is supported by the Annie's National Network Initiative for Educational Success. Program material is based upon work supported by USDA/NIFA under Subaward Number 32474. For more information about Annie's Project, visit www. http://www.extension.iastate.edu/annie/.
