The Manitoba Farm Women’s Conference marked its 24th year this fall and remains a much welcomed post-harvest event for farm women, says its 2010 chair Beth Connery, a Portage la Prairie-area farmer.
But next year’s convention, scheduled for Brandon, might be its finale.
No decision has been made yet and discussions continue on the event’s future, said Connery.
“I think some people are wondering about it,” she said. “It’s becoming harder and harder to run the convention. With the busy lives we lead, every year it’s hard to find the time to do that kind of work. I’m really hopeful that we can find a solution for that, but we’ll see.”
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This year’s event was held in Portage la Prairie, the birthplace of the event in 1986, after farm women paired with local home economists to begin hosting a two-day convention with speakers addressing special interest topics for women in agriculture.
Speakers this year gave presentations on subjects such as will planning and social networking tools to geocaching and consuming foods grown closer to home. The event also included a panel discussion on women in leadership and a session devoted to spurring economic development in rural regions.
About 85 women attended the two-day event Nov. 8 and 9.
“For a lot of women, this meets a need for a meeting place for people who have the same experiences, who are out in the rural areas and have the same kinds of needs in their community,” said Connery.
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“Withthebusylives welead,everyyear it’shardtofindthe timetodothatkind ofwork.I’mreally hopefulthatwecan findasolutionfor that,butwe’llsee.“
– BETH CONNERY, 2010 MANITOBA FARM WOMEN’S CONFERENCE CHAIR
