Summer
2000
1st Annual
Women in Ag Conference
The 1st Annual Celebrating Women in Agriculture Conference – Preserving
Tradition; Encouraging Vision; Enhancing Our Presence – is set for
Thursday, November 2nd, 2000 at the Clarion Hotel in South Burlington,
VT.
Guest Speakers will include Louise Calderwood, Deputy Commissioner of Agriculture in Vermont, Enid Wonnacott, Director of the Vermont Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA-VT), Roberta Harold, Vermont State Director for USDA Rural Development and Eleanor Jacobs, Editor, Northeast Dairy Business.
Following the keynote address and panel, participants will be able to attend three workshop sessions addressing leadership, business skills, balancing life and work on the farm, time and stress management, communicating, and roundtable discussions covering mentoring, women in policy and international women’s agricultural issues. Deb Markowitz, Vermont’s Secretary of State, will make the closing remarks.
Registration fee for the conference is $20, including lunch; financial assistance is available. For a brochure or more information regarding the conference, please call our office at (802) 656-3276 or visit our website at www.uvm.edu/~wagn for a full itinerary.
Growing
Places
It’s that time again! Cycle 10 of Growing Places is set
for the Saturday’s of October 21st, October 28th, and November 4th from
9:00am until 3:30pm at the UVM Extension Office in South Burlington.
Some of the topics will include goal-setting, marketing, finances and
networking.
The purpose of Growing Places is to help you evaluate the possibilities and realities of starting an agriculturally based business. The cost of the workshop is $75 and financial assistance is available, if needed. Contact the WAgN office or go to our website for further information and a registration form.
Staff
Notes
It’s been a busy time with staff changes here at the Women’s Ag Network. We sadly said goodbye to Debra Marckres, as she left the program in July. Debra has been with WAgN since its inception and has played an incredibly vital role in establishing relationships between us and other organizations, as well as providing technical assistance to many of our participants. We extend our best wishes to Debra in her future endeavors – she will most certainly be missed.
On a happier note, WAgN extends a warm welcome to our two new full-time staff members – Maria Erb and Ariel McCarthy. Maria, who grew up on a dairy farm in North Ferrisburg, Vermont, currently lives in Burlington with her husband and two daughters. She comes to us from her previous position at UVM as a Senior Assistant Director of Admissions. Ariel is a veteran of the program, starting out as one of our first work study students in 1995. She stayed with the program until 1999 when she graduated, only to return a year and a half later. We are quite excited to have both Maria and Ariel on board and look forward to their contributions to the program.
We also wish
the best of luck to our fearless leader, Mary Peabody, as she embarks
on the most ambitious task of beginning her Ph.D. program. In addition
to being the Director of WAgN and the UVM Extension Specialist in Community
Resources and Economic Development, Mary is currently working towards
her Ph.D. in Leadership and Organizational Change through Walden University
in Bloomington, Indiana.
WSBP Remains At Trinity While Looking for New Host
On July 10th, Trinity College announced that they will close their doors
this fall and will not resume any of their degree-granting programs.
Despite this very unfortunate news, the Women’s Small Business Program
and the Vermont Women’s Business Center will remain in full operation
and will run programs as scheduled through December 31st, 2000 at Trinity.
During this time, the program will look to secure a new affiliation with
another private, non-profit institution or agency.
WSBP was started in 1989 with its goal being to increase women’s economic self-sufficiency through entrepreneurial training. The VWBC, through a partnership with SBA, SBDC, Cyberskills Vermont, the Microbusiness Development Program and WAgN,opened last year to serve as a resource for women in search of business information and guidance. We wish them luck in the search for a new home!
Your Tax
Dollars Hard At Work
Written by Brett Chornyak, UVM Extension
Do you have back pain? Do you experience knee pain when working?
Do you have any physical or mental health impairments that limit any function
or ability to work? If you answered yes to any of these questions,
then a program at the University of Vermont Extension called Rural and
Farm Family Vocational Rehabilitation Program (RFFVRP) may be of assistance
to you. RFFVRP is a cooperative program with the University of Vermont,
Extension and the State of Vermont Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.
RFFVRP assists individuals with health related issues to either maintain
a job or enter into employment. Services provided by RFFVRP can
include machinery/equipment adaptations, homesite/worksite modifications,
education and training, vocational evaluation and counseling, vocational
training and placement to name a few. There are no fees for services
and all information is kept confidential. If you think you could
benefit from the services of RFFVRP or know of someone that could benefit,
contact Brett Chornyak, Coordinator at 1-800-571-0668.
Regional
News
WAgN is growing! A recent collaboration has begun with similar
programs in New Hampshire and Maine to make our network more extensive.
From now on, each quarterly newsletter will features stories and contributions
from these folks. We’ll also keep you updated on these latest expansion
efforts.
Aroostook
County Tour 2000
Written by Suzanne Bedard, Maine WAgN
Seventeen women took part in the WAgN tour of four farms in Aroostook County, Maine on June 12th and 13th. Leader of the tour, Vivianne Holmes, Ph.D., University of Maine Extension Educator, organized Aroostook County Tour 2000 so that Maine WAgN members could see and experience diverse farming operations that are run exclusively, or in part, by women, and to facilitate connections.
Sponsors of the tour included Maine WAgN and University of Maine Cooperative Extension (UMCE), with financial support from a UMCE Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant.
The tour group had varying agricultural interests: livestock, vegetable/fruit/berry production, herbs and greenhouse plants. The women who participated in the tour all voiced similar comments about the value of sharing this learning experience with other women involved in farming. The experience, for many, reinforced their commitment to forge ahead in their individual agricultural endeavorswith all of the risks and challenges that accompany farming.
The farmers that the group visited had very specific reasons for pursuing farming as their life's work. A strong motivator was providing their children with a whole-health lifestyle: work, play, education, nutrition and spirituality. They feel the hardships are worth it for the benefits they reap.
The Tour provided an in-depth, first-hand learning experience on a variety of topics: organic soil amendment techniques and formulas, organic feed, cover crops, mulching, crop rotation, growing cycles and harvesting of vegetables and fruits/berries (what works, what doesn't), greenhouse growing, marketing strategies used by the farms (co-ops, advertising, niche markets), diversification, farm equipment, animal behavior, breeds, care and processing, and techniques used to simplify and modify operations for women. In addition, the connections made will enable participants to contact each other by phone and e-mail on specific issues as they proceed with their own operations.
The two-day program also included presentations at the Aroostook County Resource Conservation and Development facility by Marcia Gartley, Aroostook farmer and staff member for U.S. Congressperson, John Baldacci. Marcia assisted with tour planning and presented a workshop about farming trends in Maine. The group learned about an experimental entrepreneurial showcase to rejuvenate awareness about small Maine farm operations which will be part of four of this year's state fairs: Northern Maine, Piscataquis, Ossipee and Oxford. Tesse Campbell presented a photographic essay of potato farming in Aroostook County. While at Skylandia Farm, Charles Rudelitch described innovative programs for the St. John's Valley farm community, and Maine USDA representative, Deanne Herman, shared information about upcoming programs to promote Maine farms.
Farms on
the Aroostook County Tour 2000 were:
• Louise Beaulieu, Beaulieu Farm, Monticello
• Megan Gerritsen, Wood Prairie Farm, Bridgewater
• Kate Cook, Skylandia Farm, Grand Isle
• Gloria Goughan, Goughan's Berry Farm, Caribou
Anyone interested in learning more about the Maine Women In Agriculture Network (WAgN) can call the Cooperative Extension office at 800-287-1458 or (207) 786-0376.
By the way….we invite anyone who has an ag-related business/service/product to advertise – for free – on our website in the Business Cards Directory. Again, this is a free opportunity for you to get the word out on your business. If you’re interested, just call Ariel at (802) 656-5724 or e-mail ariel.mccarthy@uvm.edu the following information:
1) Your name
2) Name of your business
3) Address
4) Phone
5) Fax
6) E-mail
7) Website
8) Product/Service offered.
We look forward to hearing from you!!!
Due to the many exciting changes at WAgN, we have revised our brochure! If you are interested in receiving this new, up-to-date version, please contact us in the office at (802) 656-3276.
WAgN
Women's Agricultural Network
590 Main St., UVM
Burlington, VT 05405
(802) 656-3276
or wagn@zoo.uvm.edu
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University of Vermont Extension and U.S. Department of Agriculture, cooperating, offer education and employment to everyone without regard to race, color, notional orgin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or familial status. |