First statewide conference for women farmers is on tap this weekend

Judith Davidoff  —  12/05/2008 10:42 am

Kathy Schmitt grew up with her three brothers on a dairy farm near Fox Lake in Dodge County.

"They learned the farming from my dad and I learned how to cook," Schmitt, 49, says of her siblings. "Now I'm the only one who's doing anything close to farming and I didn't come with any of the background."

Schmitt operates a small farm in Fitchburg where she breeds draft horses. She also works for the Wisconsin Farm Center of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection where she applied for and landed a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency to organize a statewide conference for women farmers. Kicking off Friday morning at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells, it's the first gathering of its kind in Wisconsin, says Schmitt.

"This is to help people learn tools to make their farms more profitable," Schmitt says. "To be able to ride the ups and downs that come with the weather and with the markets and anything else."

According to U.S. Census figures from 2002, there are 7,000 women farmers in Wisconsin, many of whom haven't traditionally sought out services available from government, Schmitt says. Moreover, women in Wisconsin new to farming tend to raise nontraditional crops and livestock, including vegetables, alpacas and llamas.

"So for them it's even harder to know where to get information," Schmitt says. "They're not used to being involved with the USDA or the Department of Agriculture or the (University of Wisconsin) Extension. We hope they learn a lot about these agencies."

"Connecting the Threads: Weaving the Fabric of Agriculture," which will run through Saturday, will also offer women farmers a chance to get to know each other and establish connections.

"Men farmers who've grown up in the industry already have these networks in place," Schmitt says. "They can call on a neighbor to get a loan on equipment."

She said such connections "ensure success," whether it's through a service provider or another farmer, who is open to a phone call and mentoring a new farmer.

The conference agenda includes workshops and breakout sessions on managing record-keeping and finances, implementing sustainable agricultural practices and accessing crop insurance and disaster programs available under the new farm bill. There's even an "interactive" session on "relationships between mothers and daughters-in-law."

Of the 7,000 Wisconsin women identified as farmers in the census, many own land and rent it out to other farmers. But several thousand women are the primary decision makers on farms, says Schmitt, who falls into the latter category.

"My husband helps me, but I am the decision maker."

Schmitt and her husband were living in Madison in the early 1980s when the farm they now live on went on the market. At the time, she was working as a career counselor for displaced homemakers (she moved to DATCP in 1992).

"It was a little bigger than we thought we'd have but it was too good an opportunity to pass up."

At first they rented the land out to a local farmer but over time they're transformed 35 of their 40 acres from soybean and corn fields into pasture land. Schmitt controls all issues related to the breeding, genetics and sales of the draft horses.

"I couldn't get the outdoors out of my blood I guess," Schmitt says of her return to farming. "I fell in love with the challenge of breeding horses. It makes life interesting."

Judith Davidoff  —  12/05/2008 10:42 am