by Benjamin Chase
of the Plainsman
HURON –– Wednesday evening at Cornerpost Winehouse and Vineyard of Huron, a vision that has been roughly two years in creation will become reality as the Women’s Ag Network will host the first of four kick-off events over the next two weeks.
The East Central Hub event in Huron begins at 5 p.m., and another event the next day in Eagle Butte will kick off that hub of the network.Wednesday and Thursday the following week will have events in Sioux Falls and Spearfish, and network founder Rebecca Blue, a Huron native,has high hopes for the impact that the Women’s Ag Network (WAN) could have on agriculture in South Dakota.
She recalls her own background, when she followed a call into agriculture, but ended up taking a very different path than she may have imagined as she left Huron and headed off to SDSU.
“I did my undergrad in agronomy and got my master’s in soil science,” Blue explained, then chuckled. “Then I headed out to D.C. to do an internship in soil sciences, and I realized that ag policy existed, and I was hooked.”
Blue spent eight years working on agricultural policy before launching her own consulting firm and creating a podcast, titled “The Best Job in South Dakota” to highlight women who were impacting agriculture across South Dakota.
“What was cool about working in D.C. was that you learned the importance of a network. Those in your network are the ones who are making connections for you, telling you about something, sending your resume…” she explained. “That was really beautiful to experience.”
Blue then relates that her heart began to be “tugged” toward home, but after spending years working within a network to enhance her career in D.C., she realized that she didn’t have a network within South Dakota as she returned to the state.
“That felt strange, because I knew the power of a network,” Blue relates. “So I began a podcast with a friend of mine, and we interview women involved in agriculture to highlight their stories, but then to also show how diverse agriculture is.”
She continued, “We are pretty hard-pressed in South Dakota to find any industry that doesn’t in some way intersect with agriculture.
It was through conversations in her podcast that she began to hear similar things from not just young women and South Dakota transplants, but also from long-time South Dakota agriculture women about a need for a network, a light bulb went off.
Blue said, “I thought, ‘why would we not want to help women network across the state?’”
Using networking, Blue was able to secure funding through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. The first year, Blue states that she did interviews and did plenty of homework about what was needed in a network, including multiple focus groups involving women across the state.
While there could have been “peak” experiences through big events, modern technology can allow for better connection between those big events. Even with that ability to connect on video call or online in ways not previously available, Blue says the focus is still heavily on the in-person aspect of networking.
“What I want to try with this is something that we heard back overwhelmingly in our surveys and focus groups – women want connection,” she explained. “That was one of the reasons why I came up with the hub idea. That way we can get together in person. There is really something special about getting together in person.”
She explained that the hubs are meant to localize the experience for women in a region of the state, and the goal is to have monthly events following the initial kick-off events occurring in the next two weeks.
While the event today at Cornerstone initially asked for RSVP by Monday, Blue stated that she welcomes anyone who may show up, whether someone who lives and works on a farm, works in a business that services ag producers directly, or those who are on the processing side of agriculture.
“That is the beauty of agriculture. It is so diverse,” Blue smiled. “I really hope we can get women of all those different experiences in ag to come together to understand how important we are to the success of agriculture in South Dakota.”
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