Louisiana Annie’s Project sessions begin Oct. 19

PORT ALLEN - Business tools are just as important to farmers as plows and tractors. Thanks to a special management event, women farmers can acquire those tools to better their business knowledge and continue their farming endeavors.

With women becoming the fastest growing segment of new farmers, Capital RC&D and Acadiana RC&D, along with USDA/NRCS, are bringing Annie’s Project to Louisiana.

Agricultural gender roles have begun to even out, with women operating 14 percent of the nation’s 2.2 million farms, according to the 2007 Census of Agriculture.

Annie’s Project is designed to empower farm and ranch women to manage information systems used in critical decision-making processes and to build local networks throughout the state. The target audience is farm and ranch women with a passion for business and involvement.

The following topics include: Risk assessments, human factors in farming, grain marketing, insurance for family and farm business, crop insurance, farm programs, farm transition planning, financial statement, farm tax issues and accounting, legal issues, retirement planning and business planning.

The first session will be held in Port Allen, with five more sessions to be held within the next two years around the state.

Classes will meet five times: Saturday, Oct. 19 for Session 1 and 2 from 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.; Thursday evenings from 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 24, Nov. 7, 14, and 21.  Enrollment is limited.  For more information or registration call 985-543-6570 or email Annie’s Project at dcross@agcenter.lsu.edu

Annie grew up in a small town in Illinois, married a farmer and spent her lifetime learning how to be an involved business partner with her husband. Annie’s Project takes her life’s experiences and shares it with farm and ranch women living and working in a complex, dynamic, evolving business environment.