That's just one of the comments we received from a women farmer that attended HMI's Empowering Women in Agriculture Seminar. We recently held seminars in Fredericksburg, Texas and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Both sessions were nearly "sold out" with women interested in pursuing their dreams of building a successful sustainable farm or ranch.
Each seminar started with Holistic Management Certified Educator, Peggy Maddox describing how Holistic Financial Planning helped save her agricultural operation. This was followed by a hands-on workshop led by Holistic Management Certified Educators Ann Adams in New Mexico and Peggy Sechrist in Texas. Participants got first hand knowledge of how to manage financial risk and then broke out into small groups to complete a financial planning exercise. After lunch everyone enjoyed a panel discussion and Q&A session with local women producers. This was followed by a presentation on the Top Ten Resources Women Farmers and Ranchers Never Use by Robert Maggiani, an NCAT Sustainable Ag Specialist.
The seminars were a great way to introduce attendees to HMI's Beginning Farmers & Ranchers program. This USDA funded program is currently running in the Northeast and Texas. We hope to bring to New Mexico in the near future.
Here's what some of the other women had to say about the seminars: