Tagged: agriculture

As the average male farmer or rancher gets older and retires, many women are taking over.  

To support women who are taking on the new management roles, the University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension is offering a series of classes under the Annie’s Project program.

Organizer Cole Ehmke says the class is meant to answer participants’ questions, and to help them establish connections with presenters and their peers, other women in agriculture.

University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension is working to educate ag producers about how to set up their own Community Supported Agriculture operations, or CSAs.

The Wyoming Business Council found that farmers markets contributed more than a million dollars to Wyoming’s economy last year.

The Business Council’s Cindy Garretson-Weibel says that includes direct sales from the markets, plus additional money people spend in communities when attending farmers markets.

She says farmers markets give producers marketing opportunities, and that meeting consumers face-to-face can be good for business.

A researcher at the University of Wyoming predicts that the state has a bright future in the sheep industry.

Assistant Professor Brenda Alexander says demand for lamb and wool declined for decades as tastes in the U.S. changed, and sheep numbers dropped with them. But growing ethnic populations and newfound popularity of wool blends have caused an up-tick in the U.S. sheep industry.

“Wyoming is really geared to be a part of that, because in Wyoming we don’t have a lot of producers, but our producers have the most number of sheep than any other place in the nation.”