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Writer's pictureJeannette Barcelos Kravitz

MEET A FARMER Jacqueline Smith Central Grazing Company - Lawrence, Kansas




Every time I read stories like this, I think of my dad and his family. Growing up during the Great Depression taught skills. Some in my family became pool sharks. It was fun knowing that living in a small rural farm community in Ohio and added a little spice to life.


But my dad, he took what he learned seriously from growing our own food, to having goats, chickens and a huge garden to provide food for his growing family. He'd go to work at GM by day and at night and weekends, he was working our 1/2 acre little farm, or fishing and hunting and sometimes, all three. I got to go with him on these amazing adventures too, learning to shoot a hunting rifle and bait a hook at age 12.


This story about Jacqueline Smith from Lawrence (my dad's name, by the way), Kansas originally inhabited by the Kiikaapoi tribe, shares her love and respect for farming and the trials and tribulations farmers of todays age face.


Here's part of the story. Full story link is below:

"I am not bigger or better than anybody else in my community, in my business and in my farm. We work together to do this." Jacqueline Smith


Jacqueline Smith didn’t grow up farming. And she’s a woman. By some accounts, she has the deck stacked against her when it comes to starting a new farming business in the Midwest.


Not looking like or having the multi-generational agricultural background of a typical Midwest farmer presents challenges. But, as Smith will proudly tell you, they haven’t held her back. No, her biggest roadblock is one that faces all farmers — the sad economic state of rural America and the collapse of the family farm ec


onomy that once underpinned it.







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