A conference for our time: on-site and virtual online

LEAD for Pollinators is excited to present a national conference Becoming 21st Century Leaders: Women in Beekeeping and Agriculture. This national conference will be held at Walsh University, 2020 E. Maple St., N. Canton, OH 44721, October 24-25, 2020. Using feedback from women, and men beekeepers, and other agricultural stakeholders, this event addresses the issues raised by the beekeeping and agricultural community.

This conference will offer three educational tracts: Leadership, Business, and Safety for Women (in the bee yard and in the board room), featuring a total of 32 different topics. Speakers are trained, experienced, licensed experts in law, accounting, biology, volunteer administration, education, leadership, and more. Speakers will provide you with the “how to” you need to start your business, provide insightful “lessons learned” from real-world experience in management, and offer skills and strategies for personal safety in and around the bee yard and the board room.
This event serves unique needs in beekeeping and agriculture. Planning for all contingencies in an uncertain world, we are expanding the attendance option to include “virtual on-line attendance” for registered attendees. Our conference will be produced by professional conference videographers and IT specialists experienced in virtual events.

Our featured speaker at the opening day lunch will be Denise O’Brien, founding Director of the Women, Food and Agricultural Network. Denise has farmed in southwest Iowa for 37 years with her husband Larry Harris, and operated a CSA farm called Rolling Acres that includes three acres of fruits and vegetables and six acres of apples. She also raises organic chickens and turkeys. In addition to farming, she has been involved with community volunteering and policy work in the agricultural sector. Denise lobbied with the Iowa Farm Unity Coalition, directed the Rural Women’s Leadership Development Project of Prairie Fire Rural Action, Inc. and was president of the National Family Farm Coalition. Denise has served on numerous advisory boards with the Community Food Security Coalition, the Farm to School Council, and the Iowa Women’s Foundation to name a few. She was a W.F.Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellow from 2001-2003. From 2011 to 2012, Denise was a USDA advisor in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

For her depth of work and outreach, Denise has received the 2005 Practical Farmers of Iowa Sustainable Agriculture Award, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Iowa Farmer’s Union and the Athena Award from the Atlantic, Iowa Chamber of Commerce. In 2000 Denise was inducted into Iowa’s Women’s Hall of Fame.

Becoming 21st Century Leaders: Women in Beekeeping & Agriculture, Oct. 24-25, 2020, will bring together (on-site and virtually online) a hive of experienced, diverse, purposeful individuals to expand the opportunities for women (and men) as keepers of the ecosystem to support the health and sustainability of honey bees, native pollinators, and beekeeping. Learn more about our scheduled speakers on our website under “Becoming 21st Century Leaders.”

We also invite you to be a Sponsor of this inaugural event. This is an opportunity to reach current and future leaders in beekeeping and agriculture. Learn about all of the Speakers here. We hope you can be a part of this event through your Sponsorship. Deadline to be a Sponsor is July 20, 2020. Please see the Sponsorship information online for details of how you can support leadership & business education for women, and men, in beekeeping and agriculture.

Become a sponsor, save the dates and plan to attend on-site or virtually online.
For more information, visit our webpage or email us at info@leadforpollinators.org