LINCOLN, Neb., Jan. 27, 2015 — Nebraska women will learn how to plan and make better business decisions for their farms and ranches, their communities, their families and themselves at the 30th Women in Agriculture Conference, the longest-running women’s conference of its kind in the country, Feb 26-27 at the Kearney Holiday Inn.
The theme of this year’s conference is “Our Heritage, Our Present and Our Future,” and it features a variety of workshops, “funshops” and speakers, including Rebecca Long-Chaney of Elwood, NE and Celeste Settrini from Salinas, CA.
Long-Chaney will be the keynote speaker Thursday morning with her talk, “Dare to Risk Life Change,” about her life-changing adventure working in the Australian Outback. Settrini will be the capstone lunchtime speaker on Friday as she presents “Channeling Your Inner Rock-Star!” a fun and humorous look at how to unleash that inner voice for agriculture. The Nebraska WIA Conference is celebrating its 30th anniversary of women’s agriculture programming in the state.
Also on Thursday will be Madeline Schultz from Iowa State University, the National Annie’s Program Leader, who will fill participants in on happenings in this exciting program and how they can work to bring this program to their county. The day will conclude with a celebration in the evening of the Women in Agriculture’s history and exciting future.
On Friday, the morning speaker will be Carla McCullough from the Department of Environmental Quality, who will present a department water division update. She will look at a few of the many programs DEQ monitors and some of the changes that will impact producers in 2015.
In between speakers, conference-goers can choose from 32 concurrent workshops spread over five sessions during the event. Topics include crop and livestock marketing, financial planning, estate planning, farm bill updates, crop and forage insurance, agronomy, beef nutrition, social media and apps, hydrology in Nebraska, GMO’s, community entrepreneurship, disaster preparation and Alzheimer’s Disease.
Thursday evening includes funshops for Twitter, Zumba and a demonstration from the Nebraska Beef Council.
Those interested can register online to wia.unl.edu where there is a link to the conference registration site, call 402-472-9053, or mail a completed registration form to UNL Marketplace, P.O. Box 830705, Lincoln NE 68583-0705. For more detailed information about Women in Agriculture and for a conference registration book, visit wia.unl.edu.
Early-bird registration fee is $110 for those registering by Feb. 13. Beginning Feb. 14, the fee is $130. Fee includes workshop materials, registration and all meals and breaks.
The conference is sponsored by the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nebraska Extension and the Department of Agricultural Economics as well as Farm Credit Services of America, Reinke Irrigation, USDA Risk Management Agency and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.
Lodging is available at the Kearney Holiday Inn, 110 2nd Ave. by calling 308-237-5971.
