With the increasing number of women farmland owners and operators, many Extension professionals and agriculture service providers have come to recognize the value of offering women-centered outreach and networking. Women-focused events establish a comfortable space that helps many woman-identifying individuals access resources, information and networking in the agricultural services world that they may not have ready access to otherwise.
SARE’s newest bulletin, Reaching Women in Agriculture: A Guide to Virtual Engagement, outlines a range of strategies and tools to help educators who have prior experience conducting in-person educational activities adapt their programming for online and hybrid spaces.
Reaching Women in Agriculture features a number of effective strategies for planning, hosting and evaluating online events. Created in partnership with the American Farmland Trust (AFT) and University of Vermont Extension, the bulletin “was born out of AFT’s Women for the Land initiative and the Learning Circle model, which arose out of early partnerships with the Women Food and Agriculture Network,” said Gabrielle Roesch-McNally, PhD, guide author and AFT Women for the Land director.
Experienced presenters, paired with well managed learning circles, breakout sessions, videos, chat and polling can help educators better capture and hold learners’ attentions. Encouraging participants to work together to solve real-life problems can assist learners in developing practical skills that can be applied in their own operations. The guide also encourages educators to use an equity lens to overcome barriers associated with online learning that may exclude some farmers and ranchers from participation.
Download or order your free print copy of Reaching Women in Agriculture: A Guide to Virtual Engagement at https://www.sare.org/reaching-women or by calling (301) 779–1007. Reaching Women in Agriculture: A Guide to Virtual Engagement is available in quantity for free to educators for use in educational workshops, classes or tours.