Highlighting Women in Ag for Women's History Month with Jackie Gillespie

Buncombe County -- Buncombe County Community News: Jackie Gillespie of the Buncombe County Farm Bureau Women's

Committee is sharing her take on the importance of women in agriculture as we highlight March as Women's History Month. We sent her the below questions in bold and these are her responses. The Women of Farm Bureau encourages involvement, promotes activities, raises the visibility, and creates a more positive image of agriculture & Farm Bureau in the Community.

What does Women’s History Month mean to you, especially for women in agriculture?

Celebrating Women that have made a positive impact in their field.  Recognizing them for paving the way for future generations of women. Agriculture, as with many other fields, is generally perceived as being man's work, however, there have been many influential women in ag.

Who are some (or one) history-making woman in agriculture you would like to honor and why?

One influential history maker that I would like to honor is Dr. Temple Grandin. She has made great strides to improve animal handling facilities throughout history. Through her innovative design of livestock restraining devices, it allows for livestock producers to improve their animal welfare along with reducing stress level and likelihood of injuries.

What can we learn from women’s history to guide Buncombe County moving forward?

There are many ideas that we can learn from women’s history in agriculture. One of those being that women have made great strides for the agriculture industry and they will continue to do so in years to come. Given the events of the previous year, there have been many industries who have had to shut their doors because of the pandemic and the issues that came with it. But agriculture was never one of them and we continued to push through and provide quality food and resources to our communities and country. Hopefully, the impact of women’s history along with the eye opening experiences of the past year will allow for people in Buncombe County to see that the agriculture industry will continue to grow and provide food. Regardless, male or female, anyone in the agriculture industry deserves a thank you for providing you with the food on your table.

According to Wikipedia:

Mary Temple Grandin is an American scientist and activist. She is a prominent proponent for the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior. She is a consultant to the livestock industry on animal behavior, and an autism spokesperson. She is one of the first individuals on the autism spectrum to document the insights she gained from her personal experience of autism. She is currently a faculty member with Animal Sciences in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Colorado State University.

 

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Updated Mar 23, 2021 11:22 AM
Published Mar 23, 2021 07:00 AM