Extension service hosting Women in Agriculture seminar

Published 12:00 am Sunday, September 20, 2009

Does anyone know Elizabeth Resh of Houston?

John C. Coccaro is county Extension director. Write to him at 1100-C Grove St., Vicksburg, MS 39180 or call 601-636-5442. E-mail him.

I don’t personally know her, but when I read one of her quotes in a brochure we have been distributing from the Extension office, I decided she must be quite a character and a hard-working lady.

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She said, “I’m glad to see someone is finally interested in a woman’s point of view on agriculture. Women usually are the ones to manage the dollars and cents of a farm. I raised cattle with my husband and baled hay, but I have graduated from driving the tractor since I am 70 years old. I have 350 acres of timber now.” 

What Resh is referring to is the Mississippi Women in Agriculture program, based on something called Annie’s Project that was developed in the Midwest. It is an intensive business management program for farm women with a passion for business and involvement and a desire to increase knowledge and skills. 

If you go

• The Mississippi Women in Agriculture program will be Oct. 15-16 at the Warren County Extension Office, 1100-C Grove St.  The registration deadline is Oct. 9, and the cost is $60. Space is limited to 25. Call 601-636-5442.

• Dr. Bobbie Shaffett, an Extension family resource management specialist, will present Financial Rules of Thumb and Conventional Wisdom from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday at the Extension office. Admission is free, and participants are encouraged to bring lunch.

The Warren County Extension office will be the host site for an Oct. 15-16 Women in Agriculture seminar. The deadline for registration is Oct. 9, and the cost is $60. Space is limited to 25 participants on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Program topics include:

• Business plans.

• Estate planning.

• Financial record-keeping.

• Financial statements.

• Human resources.

• Marketing.

• Risk management.

• Technology security.

• Women and money.

While this seminar is geared toward a target audience, the topics covered might also be beneficial to a wide range of occupations and to either gender. So, don’t let the title of the program fool you — this is open to anyone.

Why is the program referred to as Annie’s Project? Annie was a woman who grew up in a small farming community with a goal to marry a farmer — and she did just that. Annie spent her lifetime learning how to be an involved business partner with her farmer-husband. Together, they did great things, but it wasn’t easy.

This seminar takes Annie’s life experiences and shares them with women today working in a complex, dynamic, evolving farm business environment. While I don’t personally know Ms. Resh, I do know lots of farm women in Warren, Sharkey, Issaquena, Hinds and Claiborne counties and even a few in Madison Parish whom I feel certain would benefit from attending this seminar. I urge them and others to drop by the Extension office and pick up a registration form. 

Sponsors for the seminar, in addition to the Mississippi State University Extension Service, are the Mississippi Farm Bureau, the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce and the USDA Farm Services Agency.