Attending the Advancing Women in Agriculture Conference East 2019
By Sarah Holtmann
Four years ago, I started studying at the Asper School of Business, which was a big change from the small town farm life I had known. I grew up on my family’s dairy farm in rural Manitoba. I always helped out on the farm, feeding calves, milking cows and driving tractors during harvest. Although I still help out on the farm when I have time, my life now is spent on campus, at co-op work placements, and volunteering within the Asper community.
When I began at Asper, I did not think agriculture would be an option for a career path as I was, well, in business. I thought I would work in marketing and then start my own business eventually. Little did I know that over the past year, I would find a strong passion for agriculture and a deep desire to pursue an agriculture related career path. Rather than dropping out of Asper and pursuing a more agriculture related degree, I have discovered from working on my family’s dairy farm, different classes, and working at different co-op placements, how important business is to agriculture, and how valuable a Bachelor of Commerce degree is to pursue an agriculture career. Besides, I could never leave my home at Asper before finishing my degree because of all the rich opportunities I have had here such as being involved with the Commerce Students’ Association.
This past October, I had the opportunity to attend the Advancing Women in Agriculture East Conference to explore more about what being a woman in agriculture is all about. This conference is for any woman in the agriculture industry, such as primary producers, representatives of agricultural product companies, leaders in agribusinesses, or students studying agriculture or a related field. I was fortunate enough to be one of the 36 sponsored students of the conference. Sponsored students are university students that are sponsored by an organization to attend the conference. Each year, there is an Advancing Women in Agriculture Conference held in the East and in the West. I attended the East conference in beautiful Niagara Falls, Ontario at the Sheraton on the Falls hotel. The views were stunning!
This three-day conference began with a day of touring four vineyards and learning about wine making. There were lots of opportunities to network with others, so this was a great way to start the conference. The next two days were filled with workshops, speaker sessions, networking times, a headshot lounge, times to visit trade show booths, and several keynotes shared over dinner. The speaker session topics varied from being all about agriculture to personal success tips. For example, some of the topics included self-care and mental health in the agriculture industry, global agriculture trends, young women in agriculture, and how to be a leader. On the last day, all of the sponsored students had lunch with their sponsoring company representatives, so it was a great way to meet other students and industry professionals.
With agriculture often in a negative spotlight in social media and the news, the future years are crucial for those in agriculture to tell their story of the incredible work that is being done to feed the world and preserve the planet while doing so. Agriculture is the business of producing food for the world. One of the biggest takeaways that I found from this conference is that the agriculture industry needs support not only from within the industry, but more than ever, needs support and advocates from external stakeholders, such as those in business. Women are an important part of this, sharing their story about agriculture.
A huge thank you goes to the Commerce Students’ Association, UMSU, and Norton Rose Fulbright as I was fortunate enough to receive their support and sponsorship to attend this conference. I highly encourage any student interested in agriculture to look into this conference.
More information about the Advancing Women in Agriculture Conference can be found here: https://www.advancingwomenconference.ca/