Girls! Girls! Girls! An Elvis movie or great ag leaders? BOTH!

As a Memphian, I couldn't help but make the Elvis connection!

It has been a career long observation that being a woman and working in agriculture puts the odds in my favor, at least when it’s break time during a big meeting and the room empties to the restrooms.  The near dichotomy of being a woman in ag is something that has shifted since I started by working with a farm publications company though. In fact, there are women working in seemingly every area of agriculture.

There are so many women related to farming on twitter that I created a list of the ones I follow.  As I tap this up, there are more than 80 women on the list.  What I like more than anything, is nobody could see this as a stereotype if they take just a minute to look at who’s there.  There are women who:

• live on the farm in the middle of nowhere or  much closer to town & thow who live in small towns or in the city
• work in town & others who farm and seriously put their backs into it & still others who may not visit a farm for quite a while
• report on agriculture on the radio, in magazines or newspapers & others who are more likely to be the focus of the reports
• focus on small scale agriculture & those who have large acreages/herds
• utilize the latest in biotech & others who have chosen organic production practices
• thought maybe I shouldn’t have listed them & others who asked if they could be on the list
• have educated themselves largely on-the-job and those who are in school as well as some who have advanced degrees
• were raised on the farm and those who grew up in major metropolitan areas
• have called one county or state home most of their lives and others who have thousands of miles for the right reason
• are single and loving it & others who have big families
• blog & tweet their stories frequently and some who wait for news to break or who prefer to listen to others
• I have known for years and others I only know through the internet

Social media provides me an opportunity to hear from a variety of perspectives and that’s the case with this list.  I’ve had a chance to talk with women who are doing something far different than I had ever imagined and I’ve learned a lot.  And I can easily keep learning — I’ve got a list available at the click of a button!  Oh, if I’ve missed you, just plead your case by leaving a reply. 🙂