You CAN Build Successful Farming/Ranching Businesses in Drought, Recession Albuquerque, NM – Can Texas farmers and ranchers build successful businesses in a time of drought and recession? People – women especially - with interests in farming and ranching can find out when they attend: WHAT: Holistic Management International’s FREE “Empowering Texas Women in Agriculture” seminar - an introduction to HMI’s Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Program. Two of the speakers are from the Dallas area. WHEN/WHERE: Tuesday, October 11th, 9 am to 4 pm, at the Dallas Farmers’ Market, 1010 S. Pearl Expressway WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Women in Texas who currently own or work on ranches/farms… women who are considering ranching/farming as a profession… and men who support women pursuing careers in ranching/farming. ATTENDEES WILL LEARN: 1. How Holistic Management® can help farmers and ranchers build sustainable businesses and a market for local foods - particularly in a time of uncertain economic and weather conditions - and 2. How women, especially, can take part in HMI’s three-year Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Program. HOW TO REGISTER: Go to our Event Calendar. DALLAS SEMINAR SPEAKERS:
Marie Tedei, Eden’s Organic Garden Center, Balch Springs
Kim Pierce, restaurant reviewer and freelance writer, Dallas
Jackie King, P.O.P. Acres Ranch & Farm, Purdon
Peggy Sechrist, Certified Holistic Management Educator and owner of a certified organic grass-fed beef operation in Fredericksburg (Texas Hill Country);
Andrew Smiley, Farm Direct Projects Director of the Sustainable Food Center, Austin; and --
Peggy Maddox, Holistic Management Certified Educator and Director of Education for HMI’s Kids on the Land program, Ozona.
HMI is a 28-year-old Albuquerque, NM-based international non-profit with deep roots in Texas. Holistic Management is a whole-farm planning system that heals and manages land, and is in use today on more than 30 million acres on four continents. The system has been proven to mitigate the effects of drought.
HMI’s Texas seminars are an expansion of a program that was piloted in 2009 and trained almost 200 women farmers in New York and New England. Due to an overwhelming response of positive results and feedback from participants, HMI decided to expand the program to Texas.
HMI has organized a total of four free, “Empowering Texas Women in Agriculture” public seminars throughout the state. Two previous events in September, in the Austin area and in Lubbock, attracted over 120 According to HMI’s CEO, Peter Holter, a great need exists for a program that focuses on beginning women ranchers and farmers. “Currently, there are 942,000 women farmers throughout the country, and the number of young women getting into farming is growing,” he said.
“The Women and Food Agriculture Network has information indicating that – since 2002 - the agriculture industry has seen a 30 percent increase nationally in the number of women running farms and ranches. If you look at demographic, social, and economic factors, they indicate that the number will continue to rise throughout Texas in the coming years.”
: Tuesday, October 25, University of Texas-Pan American campus in Edinburg.