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ARTi and Iowa Women in Agriculture are both organizations native to the State of Iowa.

It makes perfect sense for us to meet and share perspectives. Plus, more and more initiatives are being put forward that seek to add the input of diverse groups. Iowa Women and Agriculture is one such group that ARTi will be working with.  

ARTi team member and graphic designer Mechi (left) shows off biochar results to members of Iowa Women in Agriculture at their August 2022 conference. 

Who Are the Iowa Women in Agriculture? Link to their website here.

The organization’s heart center of women’s roles in farming has a foundation that goes back decades. Founding member, farmer, Iowa native and published author Cheryl Tevis got her M.A.in journalism before becoming managing editor of Successful Farming magazine (Link). During her time there she wrote on women’s viewpoints on agriculture as well as supporting the business side of farming and child safety on farms. Her acclaimed short story titled We Kill Too Many Farm Kids was published in 1989. See more information about Cheryl’s work with child safety on farms at this link. 

Previous president of Iowa Women in Agriculture Deb Marcellus Schuler aslo has extensive farming and business experience.She is a partner with the farmland brokerage, management, and appraisal company Smith Land Service, Co. Deb has spent 14 years as the director of the Cass County Fair. 

Iowa Women in Agriculture was established with the intention of assisting female farmers, landowners, and agribusiness professionals. The goal is to assist women in developing their knowledge, abilities, and connections within the community in order to help them reach their financial goals and give back to the agricultural community that is near and dear to them. A volunteer board of directors oversees the operation and plans and implements all elements of their services and programs, including the annual conference.

We have mentioned Cheryl and Deb, but all the other members have considerable experience in farming, business and in the numerous related fields that come into contact with agriculture. And, of course, all of them are women.

2022 Iowa Women in Agriculture Conference

Central to IWiA’s work is their annual conference. ARTi had a chance to join them at their 17th Annual, August 4, 2022 event with the title Women Power Up: Countdown to Success!

This year the conference highlighted a pre-event tour of the Cedar Covered Bridge  (Link), a genuine bridge of Madison County referring to the 1996 romance movie as well as a tour of the Winterset Cidery (Link). The main event featured talks from Dr. Lisa Schulte Moore, professor of Natural Resources and Ecology at Iowa State University, Angie Treptow from Farm Credit Services, Rena Striegel on Best Practices for Family Farm Relationships and lots more. To see the full event list, go here to this (Link).