Dee Singh-Knights - WVUES Specialist
Daisy Fryman, Jodi Richmond, Alex Straight, Jennifer Poling - WVUES
County Educators
Women in Agriculture Team
WVU Extension Service (ANR Program Unit)
2013 ERME Conference, April 2-4th, Denver, Colorado
Percent Women-owned
Farms in US
15
11
40
32
30
8.6
10
Percent Change in
Women-owned Farms in
US vs WV (2002 to 2007)
5.2
20
5
11
10
0
1978
1997
2007
0
US
WV
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Aligns with USDA-NIFA Priority Area “Socially
Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers”
Operate small, limited resource, diversified,
sustainable, non-commodity type farms

Produce a variety of consumer-ready products

Face gender-specific challenges
◦ Lack of skills and experience, isolation, and discrimination



Likely have negative net income, be financially atrisk, and dependent on off-farm income
More apt to try new technologies and run their
farms as businesses
Respond to gender-specific training methodologies

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Traditional programs being developed by WVU’s
Extension services and land grant universities are
underutilized by traditionally underserved groups,
These groups look to outside sources for their risk
and production management information.
Developing education programs relevant to this
growing traditionally underserved group will help
◦ meet the needs of WV women in agriculture, and
◦ help keep the WVU’s Extension service and land grant
(WVU) relevant to today’s diverse group of agricultural
producers.
To empower farm women to be better
business partners through networks and by
managing and organizing critical information.
Marketing What You
Produce - Product
Driven


Producing For a
Market - Market
Driven
In less competitive times, managers produced highquality products and then found a market for them
Now, farms must first identify a market need and then
grow products that satisfy that need, at a price
customers are willing to pay, while still returning a
profit to the business and generating timely cash flows.
WV Annie’s Project Delivery
 Workshop
delivered in 6
modules over 610 weeks
 Workshops
replicated at six
locations
throughout WV
 Online session
offered
 Project materials
available on
thumb drives and
through website
Sources of Risk



Risk Mitigation Education
Production Risks

Financial Risks

Marketing/price
Risks

Legal Risks

Human resource Risks
Record Keeping,
Financial Planning and
Analysis,

Marketing Strategies

Business planning,


Farm and Food Safety,
and
Networking & Partnering
Opportunities





Characterize women agripreneurs in WV
Analyze change in risk-management
knowledge, skill and attitudes
Assess risk management strategy adoption
Identify primary issues limiting adoption of
risk management strategies
Recommend improvements for target
audience to increase adoption of a risk
management paradigm
 Pre
Survey of all participants
 Participant
 Post
training
Survey of participants
◦ 2 months post-training
 Analysis
of survey responses
◦ Descriptive analysis – means of selected variables
◦ Inferential analysis – chi-square analysis using
PROC Survey in SAS
75 pre-project surveys to date
42 post-project surveys to date


Overwhelming majority of participants have adopted
or intend to adopt at least one of the risk
management strategies introduced
Some targeted effort (mentoring and coaching)
needed to improve
◦ Overall adoption of risk management strategies
◦ Business planning efforts

Insurance planning may improve
◦ As partnerships and alliances evolve
◦ As farm size increases

Holistic risk management – incorporating new tools
and delivery methods

Train trainers – teach trainers what to do

Train farmers – teach producers what to do

Mentoring & coaching – show producers what to do



Networking and partnering – to foster peerlearning and share best practice
Local resource personnel and collaborators– for
follow-up support
Distance learning module to expand the project’s
audience

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
Brandy Brabham – WVU
Extension Agent, Roane

Daisy Fryman, WVU Extension
Agent, Gilmer County

Stacey, Huffman, WVU
Extension Agent, Mineral County
Tom McConnell – Program
Leader, WVUES Small Farms
Center
Jennifer Poling, WVU Extension
Agent, Tucker County
Jodi Richmond, WVU Extension
Agent, Mercer

Dee Singh-Knights – WVU
Extension Asst. Professor
Alexandria Straight, WVU
Extension Agent, Ritchie and
Dodridge
Jennifer Williams – Director,
WVUES ANR
Project Educators and
Advisors



WVU Extensions
Specialists and County
Agents
Dr. Robin Brumfield,
Annie’s Project
Coordinator, Rutgers
University
Shannon Dill, Annie’s
Project Coordinator,
UMd.
Project Collaborators

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WVU Small Farm Center
WV Farm and Food
Coalition
WV Department of
Agriculture
WV Farm Service Agency
Farm Credit of the
Virginias
Local Resource Personnel
WVUES Communications
Dept.