EMPOWERING WOMEN THROUGH CONVERSATION
We are hiring a new Women, Land and Legacy Coordinator for Iowa. Deadline to apply is Tuesday, September 29 at 5 p.m. Download the position announcement here.
Questions about the position can be directed to Bridget at 515-460-2477 or bridget@wfan.org.
Rural Legacy newsletter for August 2015 is here, just click on the Newsletters tab above! We hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to share & encourage others to subscribe.
Thank you & enjoy the rest of summer!
Heather & Mel
Landowners, farmers and those interested in pollinator habitat, full scholarships to the Women Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN) conference in November are available.
Funded through REAP, the scholarships support this year’s conference theme– Women Protecting Pollinators, Protecting Food.
See details here.
Several Iowa faces are included in the inaugural issue of USDA’s Women in Agriculture newsletter: Hamilton SWCD Commissioner Jean Eells and FarmHer’s Marji Guyler-Alaniz on page 2, and on page 4 you’ll find Indiana NRCS’s Jamie Seeman Shonkwiler, a Grundy County native. Check it out here!
Our May newsletter is posted on the Newsletters page. Lots of news from around the state & great events coming up. Plus we introduce Mel’s Musings column from our WLL Coordinator. Have a great week!
DES MOINES – Women, Land and Legacy (WLL) will host a social media workshop for Iowa women involved in agriculture and/or rural businesses. Women can learn how to build or improve their business using social media tools by attending a morning workshop on April 1 in Tama County.
Social media is everywhere, including agriculture. It’s important to understand how it works for you and your business. Social media creates platforms for discussion, a consumer connection, a real-time stream of information and much more. The WLL State Team is providing this unique opportunity with co-host Tama County WLL local team.
JoAnn Seeman, a Digital Communication Strategist at Spindustry Digital in Des Moines, will lead the workshops. Seeman works with clients to develop digital marketing plans and analyze digital data. She is well-versed in search engine optimization, inbound marketing, digital paid ads, as well as social media content development and distribution.
There is no cost for the workshop, however, space is limited, so please register by March 31 to stateteam@womenlandandlegacy.org; note one thing you would like to learn, and your Twitter handle, Facebook page and/or website. Participants do not need to be WLL members to attend.
Registration begins at 8:30 AM. The interactive workshop will run from 9 AM to noon. Laptops and/or tablets are encouraged but are not necessary for the workshop.
April 1st workshop will be held at Reinig Center at 1007 S Prospect Dr, Toledo, IA 52342.
People needing special accommodations should contact Laura Crowell at 515-323-2207.
Women, Land & Legacy, which began in 2004, works to reach agricultural, rural and urban women, to come together to converse, listen and become empowered to act on their landscape and community. The WLL state team consists of federal, state and private agencies. WLL local teams are currently active in 20 counties. For more information, visit www.womenlandandlegacy.com or find us on Facebook at facebook.com/womenlandandlegacy.
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USDA-Iowa NRCS News Release | Contact: Jennifer Ness or Katherine Timmerman: 319-668-2010
USDA recently recognized the Iowa County Women, Land and Legacy (WLL) local team for its passion for education, empowerment and outreach to women by presenting the group the USDA Joint EEO/CR Committee 2015 Group Award. The award recognizes USDA employees for their efforts to provide outreach and service to underserved customers and promote civil rights.
The current and former Williamsburg USDA Service Center employees honored by this award include Farm Service Agency employees Jennifer Ness and Cindy Landuyt; Natural Resources Conservation Service employees Steve Johnston (retired), Katherine Timmerman, Tanya Meyer-Dideriksen and Jody Peek; and Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship employee Leslie Maxwell.
The Iowa County WLL team held its first meeting in 2011. Since then its membership has grown to more than 150 local farmers and landowners. The group hosts approximately four annual learning sessions, with an average attendance of 50 people per meeting.
Other accomplishments recognized by the award include:
Team members Katherine Timmerman and Leslie Maxwell received the award at the 2015 USDA Diversity Day held Feb. 26 in Des Moines. For more information about WLL please go http://www.womanlandandlegacy.org.
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Our February newsletter has been posted to our newsletter page. Enjoy!
For Immediate Release: January 9, 2015
Contact: Bridget Holcomb, 515-460-2477
Melody Bro joins the staff at Women, Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN) to increase outreach to women in rural Iowa. She will coordinate the Women, Land and Legacy program, where local groups of women hold ongoing meetings covering topics from farm management to conservation.
“Iowa has something special going on with this program,” says Bridget Holcomb of WFAN. “These local groups empower women to make so many positive changes to their farms and the land they own. Melody not only has the skills we were looking for, but she also has eight years of experience working in her local Women, Land and Legacy team. We couldn’t have asked for anyone more suited to this role.”
Bro has seen the effects of the program in Tama County, where she lives.
“It amazes me how passionate women are about the land and how eager they are to learn more,” Bro says. “Having seen the benefits of the program on the local level, I’m hoping to help make this program available to every woman throughout the state of Iowa.”
This is the first time that the Women, Land and Legacy program will have dedicated staff. The program’s successes are due to the efforts of the Women, Land and Legacy State Team, which includes women from many state and federal agencies
“They have worked tirelessly to make this program what it is, and this will be a big step forward,” says Holcomb.
“Melody has done a tremendous job of facilitating Women, Land and Legacy efforts in Tama County for eight years and has assisted the local team in creating an extremely successful effort there,” says Tanya Meyer, who serves on the Area Natural Resources Conservation staff for southeast Iowa and is also a member of the WLL State Team.
Carol Smith, another member of the State Team, says, “We are looking forward to this opportunity to better support local teams, and involve more rural women in learning and action that they choose in their communities.”
Women, Land and Legacy, which held its first locally-based meeting in 2004, is currently active in 22 Iowa counties. For more information go to www.womenlandandlegacy.org.
This position is made possible through support from Iowa Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture.
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On October 20th, Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Krysta Harden “invited a small group of leaders from almost all corners of the ag sector to join at the White House and discuss the future of women in agriculture”. We became aware of this meeting and wanted to get involved in the discussion ourselves.
Last week Ms. Harden visited Iowa. USDA – Rural Development’s state director, Bill Menner set up a meeting and on Friday, November 14th the WLL State Team and Women, Food and Agriculture Network (WFAN) spoke with Ms. Harden.
It was an excellent, though brief meeting. The Deputy told us a little about herself and her work. Prior to becoming Deputy, she was the Secretary’s Chief of Staff. She strongly believes in women and the need for equal representation in agriculture. She is from a peanut farm in Georgia where her parents continue to farm.
We gave her the skinny of WLL. How we began as a cooperation of agencies from the SOC, including those around the table. Partnerships with local agencies of NRCS, FSA, IDALS, ISU Extension, etc. help with our local group successes. We shared a copy of the new guide, brochure, newsletter, ‘top 10 for 10 year anniversary’ handout, and the draft of the RBEG report. We shared with her that our group includes research at the Leopold Center as well.
We went on to explain that we empower the local woman to form their groups, typically at county levels to work on their own. We talked about their learning sessions & gave examples.
Deputy Secretary Harden asked how people know about us, WLL & WFAN. We shared that through outreach by local agencies, FSA, NRCS, IDALS, ISU Extension partnerships & Annie’s Project, along with the local outreach that WLL groups do themselves, we communicate who we are.
We wanted to lift up WLL’s purpose, not so much our history, as the Deputy was interested in what are we doing for women in agriculture. She wanted to know how she can help!
Bridget Holcomb spoke next about the education offered to women in Iowa, program goals and accomplishments of WFAN. She asked Ms. Harden to help spread the word about Iowa’s outreach to women in ag; to replicate this in other states.
Although our meeting was short, the conversation has begun. In addition to our meeting, WLL state team member, Heather Honkomp was able to have lunch with Ms. Harden. They also toured the federal building, and Ms. Harden spoke with USDA-NRCS.
Check out photos from the meeting!
(photos by Darin Leach, USDA-RD)
Women, Land, and Legacy