Five Years of the Female Farmer

5th annual Women in Agriculture Conference brings in female entrepreneurs from across the state

By Charlie Morrison

With more than half of the undergraduate student body at the Tennessee State University College of Agriculture (TSUAg) being female, the power of women in agriculture is not lost on anyone here at the College. As such, TSUAg held the fifth-annual Women in Agriculture and Human Sciences Conference in early November, and the two-day educational summit on all things agriculture entrepreneurship was, again this year, a hit.

The Pavilion at the TSU Agriculture Research Education Center was packed for the two-day conference, which featured dozens of speakers from TSUAg, governmental agencies, private farming operators and consultants. The conference featured the tag line “Local, Natural and Sustainable,” and as such, focused on issues relevant to small local agriculture proprietors. And while the event did feature its fair share of male speakers and have male attendees, the power of the female agriculture entrepreneur was on full display over the two days.

More than 100 attendees were on campus for the morning session featured presentations by Dr. Brione Lockett from the Department of Human Sciences, who spoke on maintaining one’s well-being in life situations, Dr. Thyneice Bowden, who gave a presentation on raising poultry in home or commercial environments, and Greg Jones of the Tennessee Small Business Development Centers who gave a well-received presentation on creating business plans.

TSUAg Alumni Association President James Reeves kicked of the afternoon of day one by addressing the topic of heirs’ property management before giving way to TSUAg Research Assistant Mary Mafuyai, who spoke powerfully on the topic of women’s land ownership and agricultural involvement in Tennessee.

Dr. Veronica Oates joined TSU Extension Agent Karla Gargus in speaking on the topic of how and why to grow and consume microgreens. Recent TSUAg doctoral graduate Dr. Steven Kennedy rounded out the day’s presentations with a talk on fruit production and management.

Day two started up with a presentation from four representatives from the USDA’s Natural Resouces Conservation Services, who addressed the technical and financial assistance available to urban farmers through the organization’s programming. The second session of the day was led by Ashley Brooks of Ruby’s Happy Farm, who gave the audience a view from an actual producer before TSUAg Drs. Dharma Pitchay, Sunil Gurung and Firuz Yuldashev spoke on the power of hydroponics.

The Farm Service Agency’s Outreach Coordinator Baylee Bain presented her organization’s offerings to open up the afternoon session of day two. TSU Research Associate Emily Hayes gave the audience an introduction to meat goat and beef cattle production before Dr. Clardy gave the final talk of the conference, on “creating your dish garden.”

“The conference was truly informative and beneficial,” said conference attendee Jacqueline Taylor.

“It was amazing,” said Terri Carter of the University of Georgia’s Cobb County Extension Office. Carter led a group of 10 who made the drive from in and around Athens. “The heirs’ property discussion led by Mr. Reeves was the most important part of the conference for us. I really enjoyed the part about growing microgreens as well, its really cool that you can grow something so nutritious inside with very little space, that’s really cool.”

“When you go to a conference like this you really find people who think the way you think,” Carter continued.

“We created the event to educate women from Tennessee in various areas of agriculture, over the years though it’s grown to include men and folks from other states like Georgia and Ohio,” said Dr. Clardy, the Director of the conference. “It’s about providing women in agriculture with skills, and we have women who attend from all different stages.”

“We have a lot of new and beginning farmers, we have some folks from the TSU New Farmer Academy and we have many husband and wife teams who come to the conference, where the men maybe do the hard farming but the women serve the business in other ways,” she continued.

“We’re trying to take agriculture entrepreneurs to their logical next step,” said Clardy.