The Indianapolis Star has published two articles highlighting women in agriculture. Among the women featured were Agronomy's Dr. Eileen Kladivko and alumna Betsy Bower. Both have made great achievements in the field, especially in terms of erasing stereotypes surrounding women in agriculture.
When Dr. Kladivko joined the faculty at Purdue University in 1982, she was the first female professor in the agronomy department.
“I know I had the sense to work a little harder to prove myself as a young woman as opposed to a young man,” Kladivko said. “I don’t think I was overly focused on being a woman, it was just that I wanted to do a good job.”
Bower, an agronomist for Ceres Solutions Cooperative, found that the path to success was about building relationships and helping farmers solve problems, from weed control and crop nutrition to when and how much to irrigate. It's a job she loves and takes seriously.
“It’s walking their fields and caring about their farm as much as they do,” Bower said. “Farmers can sniff that out.”
Read more about these and other trailblazing Indiana women in agriculture:
Women in ag are erasing the image of farmers as 'old men in overalls'
Female agronomist proves herself to farmers through years of hard work
