A woman's place is on the farm

Time was, when you thought of a farmer, you conjured up a mental picture of a weather-beaten man in overalls. But the times, they are a-changin', according to Margaret Viebrock, spokesperson for the WSU Women in Agriculture Conference. Today, those overalls are as likely to be on a female figure as a male one.

During the three-year span from 2004 to 2007, the number of women operating farms, or women producers, increased by 44 percent. Washington state gained a whopping 2,500 women producers during that period. The new agricultural census, released February 20, shows a slight decrease in women producers nationwide, but of Washington's 37,249 farms, 7,519 are run principally by women, or almost one out of five. Those numbers, as the saying goes, are too big to ignore.

Which is the reason for the Women in Agriculture Conference. With the phenomenal increase, many women producers are new to the business, and the conference provides them an opportunity to share ideas and learn techniques for managing a farm. The theme for this year's conference, fittingly, will be "Change Happens: Make It An Opportunity."

Because travel can be difficult for farmers, especially ones who have children at home, the conference will be held simultaneously at 28 separate locations throughout Washington. The morning will be spent in a webinar with the keynote speaker, Heather Darby, a seventh-generation farmer in Vermont, who will talk about her experiences taking over the family farm and apiary. The webinar will be followed by lunch. Then in the afternoon, attendees will take part in a financial workshop, where they'll share techniques for decision-making and management. They'll learn how to analyze options using a four-part SWOT method, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Viebrock gives an example: "Let's say that you had a son or daughter that wanted to come home and farm. What are the strengths of bringing this person home? What are the weaknesses?

What are the opportunities for them? What threats are there? Are they going to work hard? Are they equipped? Do they have the necessary knowledge base or are they going to need to be trained?

"Then you have to put a dollar figure to that. What is it going to cost to bring them home? What are you going to pay them? What about their housing? Suppose there are 500 acres down the road that I want to acquire. Am I going to need this person's help to work it? SWOT is a tool for working out the financial implications of making a change in your farming operation."

Each panel will have a panel of three people, mostly women, from different ag-related enterprises. They'll talk with attendees about how they've dealt with change in their operations, what the risks were and what the outcome was. At the end, attendees will be given a take-home packet with the information they've just received.

One thing Viebrock emphasizes is that there will be plenty of time for networking. "We've found that they want to be able to talk to other women. Women producers are very different from men producers. They share a lot. They share their resources, they talk about their farming and the costs, and they're very willing to mentor. So it's important to them to have opportunities to network."

The ASU Women's Conference will be held Saturday, March 15, 2014 from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. The registration fee is $25 before March 1, and $30 after. Registration includes the workshop, light breakfast, lunch, handouts and a book.

For more information, visit womeninag.wsu.edu.