REGINA – Saskatchewan farm women who want to start their own businesses but wonder if they have what it takes will benefit from a new program announced last week.
Women Entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan and the Canadian Farm Business Management Council are co-funding a pilot project to help farm women develop their business skills.
Through the program, 20 to 40 farm women will participate in a self-study entrepreneurial course. The council is contributing $50,000 to the project, while Women Entrepreneurs is providing $20,000.
The course is designed to help women assess their skills, identify value-added and farm diversification opportunities and determine their profit potential.
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Dorothy Middleton, executive director of the Canadian Farm Business Management Council, said 25 percent of all Canadian farm operators are women, while 30 percent are part of husband-and-wife teams.
A previous study by the council found that 80 percent of farm women are involved in day-to-day farm operations, she said.
“Farm women managers also told us that training courses were not available to them and that home delivery of educational material was the best way for them to learn,” Middleton said.
Federal agriculture minister Ralph Goodale, who announced the project, said women generate important off-farm income.
Save time and money
“This training program can provide an opportunity for them to stay on the farm, eliminating traveling time and expenses,” he said.
Middleton said the pilot project, which is also running in Quebec, will be complete by next March. The program will then be fine-tuned and made available across the country to all farm women at no charge.
Women Entrepreneurs of Saskatchewan announced the opening of its Regina office last week. An office in Saskatoon opened last September.
The organization, which has committed to provide at least half of its programs to rural women, has a $5 million loan fund from Western Economic Diversification. Twelve loans worth $433,000 have been approved so far and eight more are in the approval process, said secretary of state for Western Economic Diversification, Jon Gerrard.
