Mollie Toppe, WVU Extension Service agent in Wetzel County.
What’s the news?
Female
involvement in West Virginia’s agriculture industry continues to expand, and each
year, West Virginia University Extension Service serves this growing
population through the West Virginia Women in Agriculture Conference.
This year’s conference, to be held on Nov. 2-3 at Oglebay Resort and
Conference Center in Wheeling, is set to empower women to grow their operations,
lead in their communities and never stop learning.
Each year, the conference’s session topics are different, tailored
specifically to meet the everchanging needs of today’s women farmers,
innovators and entrepreneurs.
Find out more about registration and the educational sessions available at the conference.
Quotes and comments
“When we sit down to plan and develop the educational content for each year’s conference, we look at past evaluations; we look at current trends and opportunities, such as growing hops for breweries and expanding cideries in West Virginia. And, we also look at topics that we think will make our female producers and agriculturalists more productive and efficient in their operations.” - Jennifer Williams, WVU Extension Service Associate Dean for Partnerships and Initiatives and education committee chair for the conference
“Women are so good at building relationships and making connections. They can really use some of those skills to their advantage with their business to market to places maybe they haven’t thought of before. And, sometimes the opportunity isn’t there; you have to create the opportunity. We’ve done some of that in Wetzel County with a group of farmers, and you have to put the work in. But, then there’s a way to market your product that wasn’t there before.”
“I would like to talk about some of those opportunities with the other farmers who are there to get them thinking creatively about how they can market their products in different ways. It doesn’t have to be a traditional farmers market model, and really, to be successful, I think you have to go beyond that.” - Mollie Toppe, WVU Extension Service agent in Wetzel County, co-owner of Jennings Brae Bank Farm and conference speaker
Resources
Audio file (0:35): Jennifer Williams on tailoring the educational content
Audio file (0:18): Mollie Toppe on building relationships
Audio file (0:18): Mollie Toppe on creative opportunities
Link to original story: WVU Extension Service Women in Agriculture program
West Virginia Women in Agriculture Conference webpage
Target audiences
Female farmers
Female agribusiness owners
Women interested in farming and agriculture
Women who work in the agriculture industry
-WVU-
hb/10/18/18
CONTACT: Hannah Booth, WVU Extension Service
304.293.8701; hannah.booth@mail.wvu.edu