Annie's Project marks two decades of empowering women in agriculture
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Farming is in Rachel Gray’s blood. It just took her awhile to realize her passion. And despite her farming background, she wanted to challenge herself to be better.
Like hundreds of Minnesota farm women, she turned to Annie’s Project. It is a national nonprofit inspired by an Illinois farm woman named Annie Fleck, who educated herself to become a farm business partner with her husband.
Gray is the fourth generation of her family on land near Blackduck, 30 miles north of Bemidji. She raises about 500 high quality bred heifers every year and sells them to ranchers across the country to help improve their herds.
“When I answer the phone and say ‘Little Timber Farm,’ they're like, ‘do I ask you questions about the cattle or’... and I'm like ‘yep, I'm it. You're stuck with me,’’ said Gray.
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Gray grew up on a dairy farm in Blackduck but left to become a teacher. After more than a decade in the classroom, she returned to the farm in 2006 to help her dad and in 2012 she took over the operation.
“I said to my dad one time, ‘What do I need to know?’ And he said, ‘You better get tough skin and you need ice water in your veins because it's not easy.’ And he was right,” recalled Gray.
She still has coffee every morning with her dad to talk over decisions. But she signed up for the Annie's Project training to help her think outside the box.
“A lot of people tend to get caught in ‘Well, my dad did it this way, or my grandpa did it this way.’ And I was looking for something creative and fresh and new, and how can I make it better,” she said.
The program teaches women about five risk areas: financial, legal, markets, production and human resources. That includes skills such as finance, risk management, and dealing with the maze of farm programs.
“One thing that really changed was making sure that I kept better financial records than I had before. Really diving into that was a benefit,” said Gray.
She also hired an expert to help her manage economic risk in her operation. Annie’s Project connects women with local experts in areas like finance and marketing. Gray said it also helped build a network of women who are navigating the same challenges.
“As women, of course we like to talk and we like to bounce ideas off other people,” she said. “And my dad would tell you that's the biggest difference between how he farmed and how I farm. If I have a problem or a question, or I'm seeing something in my cattle, I have a network of women that I will call.”
Annie’s Project has trained more than 19,000 women across the country and nearly 1,000 in Minnesota. University of Minnesota Extension Educator Susanne Hinrichs says the project is a key part of a network of programs to support and empower farm women.
“You go into farming because you either love raising goats or you love the dairy cattle or you love producing a crop,” said Hinrichs. “You stay in farming because you've figured out that business side, women are finding that and they're gravitating towards Annie's project.”
Judy Watercott turned to Annie’s Project to help her survive a transition. When her husband died earlier this year after a battle with cancer, managing the family cow-calf operation near St. Cloud fell entirely on her shoulders.
She had been involved in the day to day operations on the farm, but her husband handled the finances and marketing and jobs like buying feed.
“With the drought, I'm looking at having to buy hay, I've never bought hay before,” she said. “And, you know, it's like how do I do this?”
She got help through Annie’s Project, the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and the Minnesota Farm Business Management Program. But it’s a steep learning curve.
“I felt overwhelmed. How am I going to manage? How am I going to do all these things,” said Watercott.
But learning about the risk areas in farming through Annie’s project, and developing a network of supportive advisors makes her believe she can manage the farm on her own.
“When I pulled back and I just look at the steps in front of me, one step at a time and focus on that, then it seems more doable,” Watercott said. “I can get through this one thing. And from there, I can get through that next one thing.”
The training isn't just for women who are lead operators on a farm. Jennifer Larson calls herself a farm wife, her husband and brother-in-law run a farm near Fertile, Minn., growing corn and soybeans.
She has a part-time off-farm job and helps out mainly during planting and harvest time, moving people and equipment or running to town for parts when machinery breaks down. But she wanted to know more about things like finance and marketing crops.
“Because when you're a farm wife, sometimes you're kind of the third wheel,” Larson explained. “And sometimes they assume I understand everything that goes on. And sometimes I don't.”
The training took her out of her comfort zone, but left her feeling empowered.
“To be able to educate yourself on stuff I think is very, very important,” she said. “And it's really helped me to be able to ask some questions that I didn't think I could ask."
And that makes her feel more a part of the farming operation. Women are one of the decision makers on more than half of Minnesota farms according to ag census data and are the primary operators on about a quarter of farms in the state.
Rachel Gray loves being that decision maker. She always wanted to farm, but a high school guidance counselor discouraged her. Now, she's where she wants to be and confident in her future.
“I plan on doing this when I'm 80,” she said. “I love this job. I plan on having good horses and good cattle until it's done. I have no retirement plan. (It) doesn't mean it's always easy, but I always like it at the end of the day.”
