FINDLAY, Ohio – Hancock, Hardin, and Seneca County farm bureaus hosted the 4th Annual Women’s Agri-Intelligence Conference in early June at the Hilton Garden Inn in Findlay. The conference was open to women of all ages, backgrounds, and members/non-members of farm bureau.

This year’s theme was “Embrave, Embrace, Empower.” Embrave means to inspire with courage. Embrace means to accept and support one another fully. Empower means to give others permission and confidence to shine.

Featured speakers included ER nurse and dairy farmer Katie Hammock, who shared how to prevent tragedy on the farm, and DairyGalVal, who inspired participants to amplify their voices in agriculture.

Session topics included building authentic leadership, farm family mental health and wellness, rural resiliency in non-traditional families, and empowering women in meat processing. Breakout session topics are developed from participant survey responses.

“It’s all about what women want,” Kirsten Kemner, Ohio Farm Bureau organization director for Hancock, Hardin, Seneca and Wyandot counties, said.  “For example, Katie Hammock does a really good job of talking about what it’s like from the health professional perspective, but then also from a farm wife perspective.”

Fifty women, from 13 Ohio counties, attended the conference, an average number for the two-day event. Friday night was about socializing and networking, while Saturday featured speakers and breakout sessions.

Haylee VanScoy has been on all four planning committees for the event and served as chair for the first two years. VanScoy and her husband farm full time in Hardin County, where they run a hay operation and a direct-to-consumer beef business. In her corporate ag role, she is the director of grain purchasing and risk management for Heritage Cooperative out of central Ohio.

It was she and other farm bureau volunteers who made the event happen. “I had a group of seven other women who helped bring this event to life,” VanScoy said. “It’s been great to see it grow and continue to evolve every year.”

Committee membership has changed over the past four years with the addition of new members. But the mix of old and new still has the same goal.

“We’re always looking for new ways to evolve and change,” Van Scoy said. “Maybe that is to grow, maybe that’s a rebrand, maybe that’s changing up how we’ve done it on a Friday evening into Saturday afternoon – we’re constantly looking for new ideas and new ways to enhance the experience for our attendees.”

When thinking about increased attendance, VanScoy would like more women to have the chance to attend, but the current number of participants has a benefit.

“We would love to see it grow, but sometimes having a smaller size has allowed us to have more intimate conversations, more one-on-one conversations, and we’ve been super happy with that,” she said.

Planning for next year began during this year’s conference. QR code surveys were provided during sessions to gather feedback from attendees. In addition to topics that are relevant year-to-year, like mental health and farm safety, the committee is always looking to provide topics that address new concerns or seem interesting.

“We try to switch it up every year, trying to make sure we tie in other topics that are relevant to that year or things that are coming up,” VanScoy said. “Rural mental health is always a topic that we focus on each year; however, the other topics vary from year to year depending on relevancy and survey feedback.”

Past topics looked at Farm Succession Planning, Farm Finances, Crop Insurance, Grain Marketing, Precision Ag, Non-Traditional Small Farms, and Personal and Professional Growth.

First-time attendee Hannah Kaiser, who, along with her husband, runs a grain and livestock farm in Ottawa County, felt the sessions on farm safety and mental health were particularly beneficial.

“The mental health session was really helpful,” Kaiser said. “Farmers don’t like to talk about emotions or anything like that, and she helped us figure out how to notice the signs of something bad that’s about to happen.”

Kaiser described the conference as informative and supportive.

“As women on the farm, we don’t tend to take a lot of time for ourselves,” she said. “I think going to the conference was a good mix of stuff I could potentially use on the farm, yet at the same time, I’m getting adult female interaction as well.”

The Women’s Agri-Intelligence Conference reflects the farm bureau’s desire to grow the involvement of women in agriculture.

“We have a lot of farm events for all ages and genders, but having a space to celebrate women, whether you’re a farm wife, a farmer yourself or someone who’s involved in the agribusiness space – it was designed to celebrate women, give them the time and space to recharge, and empower them,” VanScoy said.

The conference is 100 percent women-focused and centered on connecting women in agriculture, who may or may not have experience within the agriculture sector, helping women find their fit on the farm or within agriculture. The opportunity to develop personal and professional connections to create a local support system of women was another motivating factor for the conference.

“I’ve done a lot of retreats and a lot of the personal growth types of things, and I have seen the power that has come from community,” VanScoy said. “As the chair, I wanted to bring that back locally and ensure that the women in our area had that type of connection and support system.”

In addition to the community and support aspect of the conference, attendees are encouraged to create and grow their businesses or farms and empower themselves through education and relationships with farm bureau and other organizations.

“The biggest thing we’ve found that makes this conference different is the intentionality behind it,” VanScoy said. “It’s not just a conference to come and learn or a webinar to jump on, it’s about really feeling like people’s voices are heard and empowering them to go out and do great things in their community.”