Participants in the Women in Agriculture virtual conference in March 2016 at the Kenai River Center. (Photo by Janice Chumley)

Participants in the Women in Agriculture virtual conference in March 2016 at the Kenai River Center. (Photo by Janice Chumley)

Women in Agriculture Conference comes to the Kenai

The Women in Agriculture Conference will be coming to the peninsula for its second year this weekend. The one-day virtual gathering for anyone interested in the farming and agriculture industry will take place in Soldotna, Fairbanks, Delta Junction and Palmer.

The event will include 34 video conference sites across Alaska and in Montana, Oregon, Idaho and Washington. This year’s theme is “pump up your financial fitness.”

Heidi Chay is the local coordinator for the central peninsula. She said the conference highlights some of the special contributions women are offering the agriculture industry, but is open to anyone who is interested in farming, no matter what the gender.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

“In many parts of the country where there’s rapid growth in new farms, young women are often in the lead,” Chay said. “We’re seeing women retiring from their jobs to go into farming.”

The program will be hosted by the Kenai Soil and Water Conservation District and will feature both virtual and local presentations, beginning at 7:30 a.m. and ending around 3 p.m. at the Kenai River Center in Soldotna.

Virtual presentations will be given by farm economist Robin Reid and farm analyst LaVell Windsor, both of Kansas State University Extension; and Sarah Beth Aubrey, an author and farmer from Indiana. The featured speakers will discuss financial management, cash flow systems and strategies and the value women bring to the farm. In Soldotna, a local panel, including Laurie Olson of Alaska Berries, Carrie Restino of Homer Hilltop Farm and Aryn Young of Blood, Sweat and Food Farms in Homer, will also discuss finances and farming on the Kenai Peninsula.

Chay said the event aims to make business skills and small-farm development skills accessible to young, prospective farmers.

Chay said registration can be made the day of, however, she advises attendees who register last-minute to provide their own lunch in case they RSVP after lunches have been made and allotted.

Registration information can be found at womeninag.WSU.edu. General registration is $35, and agriculture students, farm interns and members of FFA or 4-H pay $20.

More in News

The Kahtnuht’ana Duhdeldiht Campus on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninula Clarion)
State board approves Tułen Charter School

The Kenaitze Indian Tribe will be able to open their charter school this fall.

Alaska State Troopers logo.
Homer Middle School teacher arrested on charges of sexual assault and burglary

Charles Kent Rininger, 38, was arrested March 12 by Alaska State Troopers.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski raises her right hand to demonstrate the oath she took while answering a question about her responsibility to defend the U.S. Constitution during her annual address to the Alaska Legislature on March 18, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Murkowski embraces many of Trump’s goals, but questions his methods

Senator addresses flood concerns, federal firings, Medicaid worries in annual speech to Legislature.

Cemre Akgul of Turkey, center left, and Flokarta Hoxha of Kosovo, center right, stand for a photo with members of their host family, Casady and Patrick Herding, at the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor’s Center in Kenai, Alaska, on Friday, Nov. 29, 2024. (Photo provided by Patrick Herding)
International students get the Alaska experience

Students to share their experiences visiting the Kenai Peninsula at a fundraiser dinner on Sunday.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Proposal to use beach seines in commercial fishery killed

The board amended the proposal to remove setnets from the east side setnet fishery before the motion failed 3-3.

An aerial photograph shows the area where the new Seward Cruise Ship Terminal will be constructed. (Screenshot/Seward Company image)
Work begins on new Seward cruise ship terminal

Work has begun at the site of the new cruise ship terminal… Continue reading

The Tlingit and Haida Elders Group performs the entrance dance at the 89th annual Tribal Assembly of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, at Elizabeth Peratrovich Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
Trump rescinds Biden executive order expanding tribal sovereignty and self-governance

Order giving Natives more access to federal funds cited in awarding of major Southeast Alaska projects.

‘Wáats’asdiyei Joe Yates, Raye Lankford, X̱’unei Lance Twitchell and Rochelle Adams pose with the Children’s and Family Emmy Award award Lankford and Twitchell won for co-writing the an episode of the PBS animated children’s show “Molly of Denali.” (Photo courtesy of ‘Wáats’asdiyei Joe Yates)
‘Molly of Denali’ episode wins best writing honor at 2025 Children’s and Family Emmy Awards

First Emmy win for animated PBS show goes to episode co-writers X̱’unei Lance Twitchell and Raye Lankford.

Protesters gather for a protest against Medicaid cuts at the Alaska State Capitol on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
Alaskans across the state rally to save Medicaid: their ‘lifeline’

Caregivers raise their voices to protect their jobs and the thousands of lives impacted if Medicaid is cut.

Most Read