When Melody Garner-Skiba was growing up on a ranch in southwestern Alberta, her parents gave her the same opportunities as her brothers.
“I like to say I was the hired hand when my brothers left the ranch,” she said. “For me, agriculture has always been a part of my life.”
That’s doubly true now. Garner-Skiba runs a quarter horse breeding ranch with her family near Waterton Lakes National Park, is executive director for the Alberta Sugar Beet Growers, president of the national sugar beet organization and also president and chair of the Lethbridge Therapeutic Riding Association.
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“I just believe that I’m doing what I’m supposed to do,” she said after being named one of seven recipients of this year’s Women in Ag award given out by Agriculture Financial Services Corporation.
The award is designed to showcase women who are making a difference in the industry — but that’s true of every woman in the sector, said Garner-Skiba.
“The role women play is one of building consensus,” she said. “So whenever I am involved in a board, or I see women involved in the industry, they’re about collaborating and building consensus.
“I feel like the role they’re playing in agriculture is really one of moving the industry forward together. Collaboration and consensus are something I’m seeing more and more in agriculture because of the increased role women are playing.”
The seven women who received this year’s Women in Ag awards illustrate the diversity of their contributions.
Terra Weaver didn’t grow up on a farm but now operates a mixed operation with her family north of Lloydminster that includes crops, cow-calf, yearlings, sheep, laying hens and a small apiary. But when the pandemic hit, she delved into a new area — social media.
It started by posting a picture of a lamb on Facebook, with a slogan that life keeps going on and the world was going to keep turning.
“I got a lot of positive response for that, and started doing it every day during the pandemic,” said Weaver, who continues to post regularly on Facebook as well as Instagram (@terralweaver).
“Now it’s a way of connecting people from city or town on how their food is grown, and how and why we do the things we do so that there’s a better understanding of the good and the bad.”
Being part of the farming sector has been a positive experience for Weaver.
“I have been so welcomed by the agricultural community,” she said, adding it’s important to celebrate women in ag.
“It’s not new that women are involved in agriculture. They have been for generations,” she said. “It’s just exciting to see women accepted a little bit more as the partner on the farm, rather than as the support or the side. It’s nice to see them being recognized as leaders in agriculture and as equal partners in their operations.
“The more we do that, the more motivated those women are to keep doing things and to keep advancing agriculture.”
That view was echoed by another recipient and multi-tasker, Natasha Pospisil.
It addition to helping run a 10,000-acre family farm near Kirriemuir and operate a fertilizer, seed and chemical outlet, she also runs a small general store and post office in the hamlet and volunteers with several organizations, including the Altario Agriculture Academy, a K-12 school.
“There’s a lot of space for women to excel in agriculture,” she said. “Women have always been involved in agriculture, they just haven’t been able to have some of the leadership roles that they can now. It’s more open now than what it was years back.”
Pospisil said it is important for her and her husband to teach their daughter not to let anything hold her back.
“Don’t believe your gender is a barrier,” she said. “She’s little right now, but if she wants to be out there on the equipment, that’s something we’re all about.
“There’s nothing saying that you can’t be in the kitchen cooking supper and there’s nothing saying you can’t be out on the combine with the guys.”
Women who are involved in agriculture should try to get on boards, said Pospisil, who sits on the advisory board for Olds College.
“If you feel you have really good ideas and you can contribute to something because of your knowledge base and your background, get on boards and find other ways to facilitate getting your message out there and let people see what your skill set is.”
Getting involved with local ag societies and other community organizations is another way to learn and make connections.
“There are so many networking opportunities,” she said. “Sure, it’s volunteer in a lot of cases, but … it’s really neat to see who you can connect with if you give it a few years.”
The other Women in Ag award winners are Lynn Dargis (St. Vincent), Margo Jarvis Redelback (Brooks), Vykki Johns (Rimbey) and Ann Philpott (Spruce Grove). Short biographies of all seven recipients can be found at www.afsc.ca (click on News and then on the March 8 post).
