These are the faces of agriculture. 2023 Colorado Women in Ag Conference.

“It’s been a passion and dream to have something like this, because I am a woman in ag,” said Weld County Extension Director Hannah Swanbom, who initiated the inaugural Colorado Women in Ag Conference held last month in Weld County. “I think it’s just so important to have a safe and encouraging, inspiring environment, and to be around women who are doing phenomenal things on a daily basis leading the industry. It’s just a great opportunity to network. I felt like we needed it here in Colorado.”

And so did so many others.

Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture, Kate Greenburg, kicked off the conference with the welcome and opening remarks before attendees broke out into sessions on focus topics such as farm safety, farm collectives, marketing products directly to consumers and so much more. 

Kathay Reynolds, Colorado State University (CSU) Interim Vice President of Extension and Engagement, delivered the keynote speech, which focused on the importance of not only supporting women in agriculture but also preserving and growing agricultural opportunities for those wanting to go that direction.

Dr. Kim Stackhouse-Lawson, Libby Bigler, Sally Jones-Diamond, Kai Miranda, and Sylvia Hickenlooper — all women at the top of their fields — presented information and hosted workshops to promote, educate and encourage women.

“Now days, our younger generation — our kids in FFA and 4-H — want to go into an agricultural direction, but they don’t know where to go [for support],” said Jodi Corliss, a small business owner from Kersey. ”… [Here], the younger generation is able to network with the older generation, learn a lot from them and carry on traditions that we’re losing. I think it’s a good way to get a good group of women together of all ages to learn from each other.” 

Gen Spering, Senior Manager of Recruitment and Events for Colorado State University, agreed.

“I’m really excited by the idea of bringing women across Colorado together, who are passionate about agriculture, to build strong networks, to learn from one another and to see how we can continue to grow as a community and support one another,” Spering said. “Whether you have been ranching or farming for generations or whether you’re brand new, this seems like a really exciting opportunity for people to come together and see how we can best grow and support women in agriculture.”

And that’s exactly what Swanbom’s goal was when initiating this conference. To bring women from farms, ranches, produce operations, small ag-related businesses, and high school FFA chapters to learn and to network, or as Swanbom described it “to find their tribe.”

“I hope they find there are other women like them,” Swanbom said. “That there’s opportunities, there’s resources, there’s a tribe … and I hope they return to their operations, their jobs, their families, their household knowing that there are others out there who support them.”

As for a 2024 conference, that planning is already underway.

“We’re excited to see how we can grow this, and how we can continue,”  Swanbom said. “I think this is a great first step, but I don’t think we are done. We don’t know what the end is. We’re just going to keep growing and hope that everybody comes along with us.”

Weld County is a melting pot of people from all walks of life. Look through stories of those who’ve helped shape different industries by visiting https://history.weldgov.com/County-150/People-of-Weld-County.

As we look forward to 2024, be sure to check out our last County Roots newsletter of 2023. In it, we'll recap some of Weld County Governments biggest accomplishments this year!