Harvest is Crock Pot Season for this #FarmHer

Harvest is Crock Pot Season for this #FarmHer
Approximately 350 high school and college females are gathering today in Ankeny, Iowa, for the second annual Grow by FarmHer (#GrowIowa16) event. Last year I had the honor of being part of a panel about advocating for agriculture through blogging. This year Laura Cunningham, Kilah Hemeseth and I will be representing Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds, which is proud to support the movement underway to recognize the important contributions women are making in everything from growing zucchini to practicing ag law.

Farmers and FarmHers, ranchers and RancHers, come from different backgrounds and experiences. Farming operations across the U.S. – and even within a state – look different due to the typography of the land, soil types and weather variations. Cropping enterprises differ from livestock enterprises. Some people raise nuts and berries while others raise crawfish and corn. Some people farm one acre while others farm thousands of acres, yet there’s one thing these people all share… they love the land.

I love that girls today are growing up without being defined by gender. I’ve met so many hardworking and determined farmers like April Hemmes and Meghan Miller who not only drive their own combines and tractors but repair them, too. Women today can farm on their own, or they can farm in partnership with their husbands, brothers, sisters, fathers or grandfathers. There is no “one-size-fits all” description of today’s FarmHer.

So many women have blazed trails in agriculture that we don’t have to look far or hard to find great role models. Instead we can hold up these numbers:

• 30 percent of all U.S. farmers are female. (I’m proud to raise pumpkins and goats at Enchanted Acres. Yes, it’s a little farm. But it’s my farm. I’m also honored to work with Midwest farmers daily as part-owner in our family-owned seed company.)
• 47% of FFA members are female, and women hold approximately 50% of state leadership positions. (When I served as the president of my FFA chapter during the 1988-89 school year, I was the only female member.)
• For the first time in history, more women are enrolled in the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences at Iowa State University. (When I was a CALS student in the early 1990s, the ratio was 5:1 men to women.)

Another exciting development is that RFD-TV is airing new FarmHer documentaries each Friday at 8:30 PM CST. If you’re not able to tune in tonight, these episodes air again on Sundays at 8:30 pm CST and Wednesdays at 7:30 am CST.

In honor of all the FarmHers who are busy bringing in the crop this harvest season, today we’re sharing a “fix it and forget it” recipe from the Iowa Food & Family Project. Crock pot recipes are key to enjoying homecooked meals at our house during this busy season, and I’m looking forward to giving this one a try!