Nebraska women will learn how to care and plan for their farms and ranches, their communities, their families and themselves at the 29th Women in Agriculture Conference, the longest-running women's conference of its kind in the country, Feb. 20-21 at the Kearney Holiday Inn.
The theme of this year's conference is "Women: Making the Critical Difference," and it features a variety of workshops, "funshops" and speakers, including Jolene Brown and Chuck Hibberd, UNL Extension dean.
Brown will be the keynote speaker Thursday morning with her talk, "It's a Jungle Out There! Blazing New Trails for Agriculture." Hibberd will be the featured lunchtime speaker as he presents "100 Years of Extension!" The nation is celebrating the 100 anniversary of the Smith-Lever Act in 2014.
On Friday, the morning keynote will be UNL Extension Educators Connie Hancock, Jenny Nixon and Cheryl Burkhart-Kriesel, who will speak about "All for the Love of Food." This will look at why more people seem to be talking about food and where it comes from and how this impacts the agriculture industry on both a domestic and global level.
The conference will conclude with lunch on Friday and capstone speaker Terri "Jo" Bek, professor of animal science at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture. She will present "Pass it on" which will discuss passing on not only land to the next generation but an attitude as well.
In between speakers, conference-goers can choose from more than 30 workshops spread over five sessions during the event. Topics include crop and livestock marketing, financial planning, farm bill updates, crop and forage insurance, agronomy, beef nutrition, business readiness and an opportunity for livestock producers to obtain Nebraska Quality Beef Certification.
Thursday evening includes funshops for apps, slow-cooker meals and yoga.
Thursday's evening program will be provided by Gayle Becwar, magician.
Those interested can register online at go.unl.edu/womeninagregistration, call 402-472-1772 or 800-328-2851 or mail a completed registration form to UNL Event and Conference Planning, 7 Ag Communications Building, Lincoln NE 68583-0918. For more detailed information about Women in Ag, visit wia.unl.edu.
Early-bird registration fee is $100 for those registering by Feb. 7. Beginning Feb. 8, the fee is $120. Fee includes workshop materials, registration and meals.
The conference is sponsored by the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension and the Department of Agricultural Economics as well as Farm Credit Services, Reinke Irrigation, Nebraska Farm Bureau and USDA Risk Management Agency.
Cheryl Griffith
Public Relations Coordinator
Agricultural Economics
402-472-0079
cgriffith2@unl.edu
Sandi Karstens
IANR News Service
402-472-3030
skarstens2@unl.edu