Jan. 27, 2015

Nebraska women will learn how to plan and make better business decisions for their farms and ranches, their communities, their families and themselves at the 30th Women in Agriculture Conference, the longest-running women's conference of its kind in the country, Feb. 26-27 at the Kearney Holiday Inn.

The theme of this year's conference is "Our Heritage, Our Present and Our Future," and it features a variety of workshops, "funshops" and speakers, including Rebecca Long-Chaney of Elwood and Celeste Settrini from Salinas, Calif.

Long-Chaney will be the keynote speaker Thursday morning with her talk, "Dare to Risk Life Change," about her life-changing adventure working in the Australian Outback. Settrini will be the capstone lunch speaker on Friday as she presents "Channeling Your Inner Rock-Star!" a fun and humorous look at how to unleash that inner voice for agriculture. The Nebraska WIA Conference is celebrating its 30th anniversary of women's agriculture programming in the state.

Also on Thursday, Madeline Schultz from Iowa State University and National Annie's Program Leader, will describe this exciting program and how participants can bring it to their counties. The day will end with a celebration in the evening of the Women in Agriculture's history and exciting future. 

On Friday morning Carla McCullough from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality will present a water division update and look at a few of the many programs DEQ monitors and some of the changes that will impact producers in 2015. The conference also includes 32 concurrent workshops spread over five sessions. Topics include crop and livestock marketing, financial planning, estate planning, farm bill updates, crop and forage insurance, agronomy, beef nutrition, social media and apps, hydrology in Nebraska, GMO's, community entrepreneurship, disaster preparation and Alzheimer's disease. Thursday evening includes funshops for Twitter, Zumba and a demonstration by the Nebraska Beef Council.

Registration

For more information or to register visit the Women in Agriculture website at wia.unl.edu, call 402-472-9053, or mail a completed registration form to UNL Marketplace, P.O. Box 830705, Lincoln NE 68583-0705.

The early-bird registration fee is $110 for those registering by Feb. 13. Beginning Feb. 14, the fee is $130. Fee includes workshop materials, registration and all meals and breaks.

The conference is sponsored by the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nebraska Extension and the Department of Agricultural Economics as well as Farm Credit Services of America, Reinke Irrigation, USDA Risk Management Agency and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality. Lodging is available at the Kearney Holiday Inn, 110 2nd Ave., 308-237-5971.