1. Home
2. Conferences
3. 2006 National Extension Women in Agriculture Conference

The Grow Your Business Initiative: Helping Women Farmers Translate Learning into Risk Management Action

Beth Holtzman

Summary

More than 75 women farmers are beginning to take steps to reduce their financial, production, marketing, legal and human resource risks as a result of their participation in the Grow Your Business initiative embedded in the 2005 Women in Sustainable Agriculture Conference. Funded in part by a grant by the Northeast Center for Risk Management Education, this initiative paired concentrated, conference-based risk management education with individualized post-conference technical assistance and referrals. The conference was held in October 2005; our work with participants will continue through June 2006. Feedback to date has been overwhelmingly positive. Evaluation data shows 99 percent of respondents found the education useful, and 92 percent planned to make a change on the farm as a result of something they learned at the conference. In the workshop, Beth Holtzman, outreach education coordinator for the Women´s Agricultural Network, will provide an overview of the objectives, design and outcomes to date of the initiative (approx. 15 minutes), then moderate panel discussion with farmer participants Jinny Cleland (Vermont) and Pamela Arnosky (Texas). The farmers will share their experiences as participants, including why they enrolled in the program, what aspects were particularly useful, and how they're applying this knowledge and skills they've obtained to improve their farm businesses. This workshop could be compressed into 30 minutes (without one or both farmers) or it could be 90 minutes (with the farmer discussion). Some level of travel support for both farmers would be necessary.

Details

---