***The cohort for 2024 is FULL. If you would like to be contacted for future opportunities, please email Julie Doll (julie@miagadvance.org).
Women in Grains: Rooted in Resilience is a new female farmer community space inspired by Michigan Agriculture Advancement and supported by Michael Fields Agricultural Institute.
The women** we know are multifaceted and tenacious. Add stewarding the land, growing grains and contributing to their communities; these women are the ones who we consider to be absolute gems of our Midwest food system. While some of us may thrive in imperfect and ever changing conditions, we want to disrupt that norm and bring forward a place of calm and safety, while simultaneously raising up the female farmers who are growing (or want to grow!) food-grade grains, at any scale, across the Upper Midwest. Together we can learn, build collective support and embrace the leadership of women in their operations, families, communities, and across a regional grainshed.
Please complete this short form only if you would like to join the 2024 Women in Grains: Rooted in Resilience Series. Please note: Participation for 2024 is limited to only 25 farmers. If you have any questions about program participation or difficulty accessing this form, please email Julie Doll (julie@miagadvance.org) or Christine Johnson (cjohnson@michaelfields.org).
Funding Supported by: the MI Climate Smart Crops project, a USDA-funded Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities project led by Star of the West Milling Coo.
Program details
June 26: 8aCT/ 9aET: Welcome & Resilience (virtual)
- Welcoming: Laura Lengnick – Cultivating Resilience
September 3-4: Gathering & Grounding (in-person: Granor Farm, Three Oaks, MI)
- Overnight Workshop, Farm Tour & Community Dinner
October 2: 8aCT/9aET: Reflect & Adapt (virtual)
- Food Grade Grain Opportunities – Markets & Financial Resiliency
November 13: 8aCT/9aET: Reflect & Adapt (virtual)
- Land Stewardship & Conservation – Soil Health & Cover Crops
December 4: 8aCT/9aET: (optional) Seasonal Celebrations (virtual coffee & tea)
Participation expectations:
- Women/female** identifying and actively farming*
- Growing or anticipating growing food-grade grains for Midwest regional markets
- Attend 4 events (3 virtual, 1 in person); 1 optional social virtual gathering
- Spend up to 2 hours total for pre-event readings, reflections, and journaling
- Commit to Community Guidelines
- Complete one survey at end of participation
- No cost required to attend, you are expected to travel and attend the in person event on Sept 4 in Three Oaks, MI (lodging and meals sponsored). We have grant funds to cover the travel of Michigan farmers. For non-Michigan farmers, if travel is a burden, please communicate with program organizers for additional support.
*Applicants need to be actively farming, but do not need to be owners of the farm business or land
** It is important for us to acknowledge the complexity of the word “women”. From American Farmland Trust: The State of Gender Equity in U.S. Agriculture: “women can be understood in a gender inclusive way to include cis-gendered women, transfeminine women, and femme-presenting non-binary people who are marginalized by misogyny or impacted by women-related issues. That said, the national data on gender in U.S. agriculture, as collected in USDA surveys such as the Census of Agriculture, the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) and others, largely capture cis-gendered women and provide sparse insight into the presence of queer and gender non-conforming people in agriculture.”
https://farmlandinfo.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/12/AFT-gender-equity-report.pdf