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The Agrarian’s Alcove Celebrates: Women’s History Month





Last month we celebrated Black History month here at the Alcove, and this month we are celebrating Women’s History in agriculture! So I was thinking about who the most influential women in the ag industry are, and in my opinion Temple Grandin is at the top of the list. You could say I’m biased since I’m an animal science major and she works directly with animal ag, but she’s still my favorite. Anyways, since I’ve already done two posts about Temple Grandin and her work, I figured I needed to focus on some other women.

If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you know how I feel about GMOs. If you’re new, read this post. So, you can understand why I’m a huge fan of Alison Van Eenennaam and her assistant’s research on GMOs. Together, these women conducted a study that involved reviewing 29 years of livestock health and productivity data. They studied groups livestock both being fed genetically engineered livestock feed, and being fed regular feed. Their study found that GE feed is nutritionally equivalent to regular feed, and that it has no negative health effects on the animals. Can you imagine all the paperwork they filtered through, the records that had to have all of the data on what was fed, how the animal performed, when the animal got sick and what it was sick with? That’s a lot of info! And going through 29 years of data is no easy feat! This research covered more than 100 billion animals. They proved that feeding livestock GE feed both safe and effective.

Now, you know I love GMOs and what they can do for us, and you know I hate food waste. So I’d like yall to know who Betsy Fink is and what she’s done. Betsy Fink is a co-founder of Millstone Farm grocery store in Massachusetts. She also introduced the Fink Family Foundation which now works with Food Tank to help reduce food waste by implementing and enhancing existing food waste policy. They help implement policy in restaurants to reduce food waste there, as well as retail food waste. Retail food waste is your food from grocery stores that didn’t get sold by the sell-by date, or was damaged You know how sometimes your gallon of milk leaks? Well if they see that in a store, they throw that out and it becomes food waste. Retail has a lot of room for diminishing food waste. I feel like restaurant waste is a bit harder because you have customers who don’t take home leftovers, or don’t like their food and send it back. What do you do then? You can read FFF’s plan of action on their website. I think this is a great idea don’t you?

Lastly, I’d like to highlight Elise Golan, who works for the USDA as the Director for Sustainable Development. We love sustainability here at the Alcove.  Love, love, LOVE. Dr. Golan has researched sustainable land management, as well as a wide variety of topics that touch on sustainability. We talk about sustainable agriculture, but normally when I hear those words I think of being smart with water use, reducing waste, doing things more efficiently. Dr. Golan, however has a much better understanding. She knows that sustainable agriculture also has to do with how we manage our soil, reducing erosion,  growing the types of crops that our land is used best for (not just what we think we want to grow! Think back to Permaculture and how it all worked together). Her research is essential for the world to continue growing enough food for the population, not just for the United States.

These are just a few of the women who have impacted agriculture in a serious way. Check out Food Tank’s list of Women We Love to read about more amazing women. Remember that we’re always celebrating agriculture here at the Agrarian’s Alcove, and we want to lift up those who do good! Be sure to let me know in the comments below who your favorite woman in the industry is! Happy March yall!


https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonentine/2014/09/17/the-debate-about-gmo-safety-is-over-thanks-to-a-new-trillion-meal-study/#642d57598a63
https://foodtank.com/news/2016/01/women-we-love-27-influential-women-in-food-and-agriculture/
Images from: Google bios, Food Tank, Getty Images
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