USDA Gives Female Farmers a Hand

Women are going back to the land, and the US Department of Agriculture is there to give them a hand. The USDA has awarded a grant of $639,000 to Albuquerque-based Holistic Management International (HMI) to train first-time female farmers in the northeastern states, according to New Mexico Business Weekly.

HMI restores damaged grasslands and improves the health of farms and ranches by advocating for and teaching holistic management of land, a method that concentrates on integrating management practices with natural processes. The organization uses an 11,000-acre ranch in Texas as a teaching and demonstration site.

Peter Holter, CEO of HMI, stated that more and more small farms and ranches are owned and run by women. "We see this as a prime opportunity to further our mission of improving the health and productivity of land while creating health economies, and improved quality of life," he said, according to the NM Business Weekly.

To get these female first-timers the training they need for a sustainable farming future, HMI will partner with the University of New Hampshire, Cornell University and Women in Agriculture Networks in Maine, Vermont and Connecticut.

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