Farm broadcasters Rita Frazer, RFD Radio Network, and Angela Boesche, WSMI-Litchfield (right), talk with members of the Heyworth FFA Chapter at the Women Changing the Face of Agriculture Conference at Illinois State University. (Carrie Muehling/WJBC)

NORMAL – Nearly 900 young women and chaperones came to the Illinois State University campus Friday for an agricultural career discovery conference.

The Women Changing the Face of Agriculture Conference is in its sixth year of connecting high school and college-aged women with professionals in the agriculture industry. This year’s keynote speaker told the students there really are no limits for what they can do in the agriculture industry.

“I think the heart of the message is that you can really do anything you want to do and still keep that love of agriculture as a part of the job that you take. Whether you’re out there selling farm equipment, whether you’re helping dealers, whether you’re managing the finance machine of the operation, whether you like to be developer of new product, there is a place in the ag industry for your talents, for your strengths, for the values that you hold,” said Ann Daane, vice president of human resources for North America with CNH industrial, makers of Case IH and New Holland equipment. “And it’s really to help them understand that there is a lot more to the ag industry than sitting on a tractor. We can help them find a place where they can be effective and where they can feel validated about the work that the do.”

Daane recognized that this is an important time in the lives of these young women.

“These really are such formative years for them. Good decisions that they make now will set them on an easier path. Bad decisions set them on a more difficult path. There is a very kind of nurturing, kind of mentorish feel that I get when I’m here, really wanting to help them understand that they need to trust themselves. They need to understand how valuable they are to the industry, and then they need to turn that into something that really takes them on a path to have the career they want to have,” said Daane.

Participants networked with agriculture professionals in a career fair setting as well as breakout sessions that further explored their interests in agriculture. The conference is coordinated each year by the Illinois Agri-Women.

Carrie Muehling can be reached at [email protected].