Presenters:
Doolarie Singh-Knights, WV Annie’s Project Coordinator, Professor and Extension Specialist, Agribusiness Economics and Management West Virginia University and Emily Morrow, Extension Agent – Agriculture & Natural Resources, West Virginia University, and other WV Annie’s Project Facilitators

Over the last decade, West Virginia (WV) has seen a growth in the number of female farm owners, operators and/or farm partners. This trend has changed the status quo of extension programming in WV, pointing to the need for increasingly diverse and multi-functional extension risk management programs that create a more proactive educational model to help traditional producers and the growing cadre of female agripreneurs.

In 2012, we started the WV Annie’s Project, a multi-prong approach to helping our growing clientele of farm women develop the requisite skills and attitudes to become better business owners, operators and/or farm-partners, and to help them build profitable, viable and sustainable women-led agribusinesses. Our program focused on educational and networking opportunities to enhance farm viability through improved business planning and risk management. Our efforts in this program have led to more than 500 graduates; 100 percent of graduates have reported making some tangible improvements to their operations, and 40 percent have reported profitable and strengthened agribusinesses. The WV Annie’s Program has also ‘inspired’ two additional programs in WV, namely ‘The WV Agritourism Initiative’ and ‘The WV Women in Agriculture Conference’.

In this showcase, we will feature ‘Voices from the Field’, as we hear from several Annie’s Project graduates on how these programs has benefited their operation and their quality of life and how Annie’s Project has served as a ‘gateway’ to them participating in our ‘Annie’s Inspired’ other Extension programs.

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