Last week, close to 600 women, and a few men, met in the Calgary, Alta., for the second Advancing Women in Agriculture leadership conference. From learning about the value of networking, to finding work/life balance, to hearing many people's personal journeys to success, women who attended the conference left inspired, connected and energized. As is... Read More
Category: Advancing Women in Agriculture
Announced at the Advancing Women in Agriculture event in Calgary earlier this month, the Canadian Agricultural Human Resource Council (CAHRC) is launching a research project called Supporting the Advancement of Women in Agriculture (SAWA). The federally-funded study will examine and address critical barriers to advancement that women face in the agricultural industry. "It's going to... Read More
Only 53% of women have the confidence to invest money, while 82% of their male counterparts are confident investing money, Gwen Paddock, national manager, agriculture and agribusiness, client and business strategy at RBC Royal Bank, told delegates at this year's Advancing Women Conference in Calgary. Yet, Paddock explained, women tend to be better investors than... Read More
Cornelia Kreplin has a history of accepting opportunities. After training in veterinary medicine and receiving a graduate degree in veterinary reproductive patholgy, Kreplin took a career with Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development, serving as the provincial reproductive pathologist and later as Alberta's Chief Provincial Veterinarian. In 1999, Kreplin accepted an incredible opportunity to build a... Read More
To some, "accepting risk" is an excuse to not fully understand personal finance, and it's no wonder, with an abundance of numbers, statistics and graphs, economics can seem daunting to some or overly dull to others. And for women, as Gwen Paddock, national manager of agriculture and agribusiness for RBC Royal Bank, points out, the... Read More
When it comes to making a decision on your farm, you may be comfortable getting agronomic advice from your peers or the generation that's gone before, but how many of you have what you consider a mentor for your career as a farmer? The same question applies to those in industry as well — who... Read More
"We are not where we need to be or should be," says Linda Hohol, Calgarian and corporate director on Boards of Export Development Canada, NAV Canada, Ellis Don Construction and Canadian Western Bank. The gender gap in Canadian business and politics is certainly closing, but we still have more work to do to encourage and... Read More
Having one dark chapter in your life doesn't mean that's how the whole book has to be, says Mary Morrissey, a life coach and motivational speaker, who spoke at last month's Advancing Women — Leadership in Agriculture conference. Morrissey is no stranger to set backs, challenges and being told her dreams were unattainable. But from... Read More
In 1996, Jacob van der Schaaf, a Dutch immigrant to Canada, and his daughter Angela Santiago planted a small, one-acre plot of potatoes just outside Edmonton, Alberta. It was an experiment meant to test the waters of the potential potato market in Alberta, and was obviously an overwhelming success. Today, Jacob runs Tuberosum Technologies and... Read More
Thirty years ago, a woman in a leadership position in the agriculture industry would have been incredibly novel. A generation ago, it would have been surprising to see a woman in a sales position with an agriculture company. Today, women fill or have filled nearly every role within agriculture, from farmer, to sales person, to... Read More