Nebraska conference aims to empower women
The AG-ceptional Women's Conference will be held Friday, November 20, in Norfolk, Nebraska. To learn more, contact Bonnie Schulz at bonnies@northeast.edu or 402-844-7185, or Corinne Morris at corinne@northeast.edu or 402-844-7361.

Cheryl Tevis, senior farm issues editor of Successful Farming magazine, has been named the 2009 Steuland Scholar by the National Farm Medicine Center. The award goes to an individual who has made significant contributions in the areas of emergency, agricultural and/or alcohol and drug abuse medicine. Tevis is the first non-physician/scientist to receive this honor, and has made safety a theme in her more than 30 years of writing for the magazine.

Kathy Wettleson was always a daddy's girl, and learned about farming and marketing at the side of her father. Today, she and husband Marcus work as a team to market crops. "We discuss marketing strategy before the crop is in the ground and make sales decisions together," she says. "I'm good at implementing and sticking to a plan. If it's a mutual decision, no one can play the blame game."

"In the face of financial adversity -- low milk prices, low pork prices, lower grain prices -- I encourage you to be strong and persist," Naomi Blohm writes. "If your family is struggling this year because of lost pricing opportunities, stay strong: another opportunity will surely come. Volatility brings stress, but also opportunity. Now is your time to prepare for it."

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L.J. and her husband are considering selling their land to the farmer who rents it, in order to make ends meet. They don't have any heirs, and can't stand the thought of their family's farmland being turned into a housing development. Dr. Jonovic advises them against giving up their assets without a careful plan and a financial advisor.

Beauty may be only skin deep, but that's a good start for Julie and Mark Schuett. The Cherokee, Iowa, farmers and entrepreneurs process oilseed into food-grade flour and oil at American Natural Soy, Inc. (ANS). Soy lecithin, a by-product, goes into organic baked goods, baby formula, nonstick cooking products, chocolate, and confections. It's also an integral ingredient in Origins Organics, a cosmetic and personal care product line by Estée Lauder.

Pumpkin is a signature flavor of autumn, and this cheesecake recipe has just the right amount of pumpkin flavor. It's simple enough for any weeknight dessert, yet decadent enough for the holiday table.

Carolyn Sheridan is watching the health insurance reform debate closely. As nurse director at Spencer (Iowa) Hospital, she has seen the financial impact of the uninsured on the bottom line. As clinical director of The AgriSafe Network, she knows the health impact on underinsured farmers. "Less coverage usually means less preventive care, a later diagnosis, and a more negative prognosis for patients," she says. "It often means bad debt for hospitals."

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It's always interesting to learn more about the people we talk with online, so we've put together a fun interactive map that lets Women in Ag put themselves on the map. Take a look at the map, see where your online friends live, and add yourself!

The recently released 2007 Census of Agriculture shows a 30% increase from 2002 in women principal farm operators.