Video - Women Managing the Farm Conference - 2017

Announcer: The 2017 Women Managing the Farm Conference which is co-sponsored by K-State Research and Extension took place in Manhattan, Kansas. Women from across the Midwest region gathered to discuss vision on farms, expand their managerial skills, and network with one another.

(Jennie Bracken) We have age ranges, everything from high school clear on up to the ladies in their 80s. And they're still fired up about agriculture and still active. And then also, I think the ladies enjoy coming just for the educational aspect, and then, again, the networking. It's just huge to meet somebody else in the industry, another lady in the industry that shares the same role that you might share in your operation.

(Renee Humbolt) I've reconnected with probably two or three. And, of course, faces are familiar and then meeting new ones every year. And it's kind of transitioned from-- when I first started, my kids were younger and now my kids are getting older, and so it's been fun to see the younger ones come in and go, "I remember being there, and now I'm coming on this stage of it.

(Alicia Allen) The last session I went to was about vision, and he talked about how important it is to have a vision for your farm. You want to be thinking about the future, not just right now, so that you're actually moving forward rather than being stagnant or moving backwards.

(Jennie) Some of the comments that we've received in the past is that women really enjoyed the ability to ask questions. Since it's all women, there's an environment that doesn't feel intimidating like maybe a more typical conference.

(Alicia) I went to the Excel class taught by Rich Lleweln and that was a really great class. My dad uses lots of Excel spreadsheets, and so it really helped me get a better understanding of why he uses so many Excel spreadsheets and helped me realize that I can develop some of my own spreadsheets to maybe streamline some processes that we do and figure out some of our numbers like our break-even and things like that which are so important to know.

(Renee) And they have been farming since 1888, they have never had crop insurance, which I did not understand coming into the family when we have health insurance and car insurance and everything. And it's just like this is our living, this is where we get our income. We went through the first year of the drought, and I happened to be up here when they were talking about crop insurance. I went home, and the first year that drought hit pretty hard, we decided to get crop insurance and that pretty much saved us; that second year of drought. That was a blessing. That was an absolute blessing.