American Farm Bureau Federation’s Ag ConnectHER events spotlight prominent women across agriculture to inspire others to reach their potential and succeed in leadership. Margaret Gladden, a farmer from Indiana and a member of the AFBF Women’s Leadership Committee, says the effort brings women together across the country.

“We try to do these four times, five times a year, in bringing together powerful women that have worked their selves into the business world and done wonderful, great empowering things. And they are just great leaders and can empower all women that we can be great leaders, as women.” 

AFBF held the most recent Ag ConnectHER event last week.

“We had Beth Bechdol, the Deputy Director-General at the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, and it was just amazing to hear her leadership journey, and her words of encouragement for women: keep pursuing and keep going, be real, be ourselves, you know, you’re going to be nervous, but it’s okay to be nervous, and to be human.” 

Gladden says it’s important for women in agriculture to come together and support each other.

“People tend to look at the role of agriculture as a man’s world, but there are more women that are coming up in the ranks of majoring in agriculture and there are more women owning farms now than there used to be. We look at that field, we’ve got to keep pursuing and going to stand on our feet, also.”
 

Watch recordings of the event on the Women’s Leadership page at fb.org.