"You're a girl." A man said this to me when I introduced myself as the guest speaker at that night's ag ambassador presentation. My first thought was "Yes. I'm aware of that...." After a bit of somewhat awkward laughter and ribbing (toward the man, not me) from the others in the room, he told me
"When I saw your name and that you were speaking about agriculture, I just assumed you would be a man."
First of all, thank you mom and dad for giving me a unisex name, 'cause that's never caused any awkward moments in my life.... Secondly, boy was I excited to break some stereotypes for this man. I truly love changing people's minds and giving them information that completely 180s the way they think about something. Not only was I going to be able to address some important topics though my "Issues Facing Agriculture" presentation, I was also going to be able to show him that those involved in, or knowledgeable about, the agriculture industry are not just men.
Women make up a huge part of agriculture. In fact, in 2007 more than 300,000 women farmed. We (women) are agronomists, researchers, farmers, book keepers, ag lawyers, journalists, engineers, teachers, truck drivers, equipment operators, veterinarians, etc. Women make up a huge part of this industry and it truly wouldn't be the same without us and our contributions. Many people don't realize that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe the common perception of a farmer, or an agriculturalist, is an older man in overalls.
I serve as a National Collegiate Agricultural Ambassador through the National FFA Association. The team is made up of twenty college students from across the nation. The majority of us were born and raised on some sort of farm. We are all studying agriculture. We all plan to work in the agricultural industry. Sixteen of us are women. I have a feeling there have probably been quite a few surprises caused by one of my teammates walking in and not being a man (especially by the girl-Sam on the team).
If we are going to continue growing this industry we are going to have to realize that women are a major part of it. And that they should be. We shouldn't be surprised when we meet a woman in agriculture. And we should encourage women to pursue agricultural degrees (trust me on that, not only is an ag degree wonderful because ag is wonderful, people love to provide scholarships to women pursuing ag degrees).
So...what does this mean? It means the next time you buy food at the grocery store, you shouldn't assume it was all men that got it to that point. It means the next time you drive past a piece of farm equipment in a field, it's possibly a woman driving. It means that the future of agriculture is full of incredible men and women.
