Farmer or FarmHER? A personal note from FarmHER CEO Raquel Gottsch Koehler

What do you picture when I say “farmer”? Do you think of a hard-working father driving a combine with his son while the mother and daughter are inside preparing a fabulous meal for after-quittin’ time? I’ll be honest. That’s what I used to think when I was driving down dirt roads and saw the tractor up on the hill during sunset. I never really stopped to think. Perhaps it’s a woman in agriculture…a FarmHER.

Over the past 6 months, I have had the pleasure of embarking on a new journey through RFD-TV, serving as executive producer of our newest television series, “FarmHer"—a show dedicated to shining a light on the women in agriculture. What started out as something I was truly passionate about (after all, I am a woman in agriculture) has turned into a personal mission. I want to help change the image of agriculture to include more women and use my family’s platform, RFD-TV, to do so. This is why RFD-TV was launched, to serve the needs and interests of rural America. My father simply thought that if no other television executives would do it on their networks, he would. And I am taking this same attitude and applying it to our new relationship with FarmHer.

Through “FarmHer”, I have become great friends with its founder and host, Marji. Together with our talented crew, we have traveled to many states, including Colorado, California, Florida, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Indiana, North Dakota, and South Dakota. And that’s just the start. We have filmed some of the most inspiring and amazing women I have ever met. From women who grew up in farming, married a farmer, and today are running the family farm, to women who have had no experience living on a farm but have decided they want to be a FarmHer, bought some land, and through lots of reading, networking, and persistence have started their own legacy – some working a 9-5 job still and farming at night. From small farms to large farms, we cover it all. And then there are FarmHERs who choose not to work on a farm or ranch but instead contribute to agriculture through their role in corporate America. In the end, our mission is to capture these women in a positive light and share their passion for loving the land, caring for the community, and feeding the people. Women are great communicators, and through this show, it is my hope that we will not only update the image of agriculture to include females, but we will also be able to reconnect the city with the country, the other mission of RFD-TV.

I invite you all to join us on this journey and tune into “FarmHER” every week starting in September. Who knows, after watching a few episodes, you might be like me and want to start raising baby goats or planting some blueberries. After every visit with a new FarmHer, I cannot wait to get home and start digging in the dirt…that’s how much these women inspire me.