Raleigh, North Carolina - On Friday, September 17th, mano-Y-ola, LLC, hosted the third annual Hispanic Farmers and Agricultural Professionals Symposium, a virtual resource and networking conference during the National Hispanic American Heritage Month. This conference offers timely knowledge from farmers and agricultural professionals, where they share their expertise on farming, conservation practices, and networking opportunities. Other topics include how to connect with the National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), resources for farmers during the coronavirus pandemic, and the Champions in Conservation Learning Network (CCLN), an internship program opportunity for young agricultural professionals. These segments are offered in response to the Symposium objectives of highlighting the growth and presence of Hispanic farmers in the United States, underscoring the work of Hispanic agricultural professionals and student interns in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), highlighting agricultural conservation practices among Hispanic producers, increasing familiarity with USDA careers and services, and celebrating Hispanic contributions to agriculture and the economy.
In her welcoming address in the Symposium, Gloria Montaño Greene, the Deputy Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), stated: “We, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, need to hear from collaborators. The USDA secretary has tasked us to do ongoing listening sessions to gain feedback because it is not going to be from one day to the next that equity and inclusion are changed. We are strengthening our understanding of those communities we need to serve better.” In this vein, mano-Y-ola, has responded to the call of listening to pertinent audiences and proactively seeking inclusion.
Following one of the company’s mottos, to “pass it forward,” mano-Y-ola’s goal is to provide pertinent, quality information in a setting that celebrates culture and brings together the Hispanic agricultural community during a season when in-person field demonstrations and symposia are not currently an option. This is accomplished by being intentional to provide educational resources that can reach as many interested parties as possible by simultaneous English and Spanish language interpretation during the Symposium, hosting these bilingual segments on YouTube, creating a series of videos about free conservation tools, and partnering with the online Spanish-language newspaper, ¡Qué Pasa!, to provide agricultural content for publication that can reach a wider audience.
By producing materials made available to the broader agricultural public, mano-Y-ola holds itself accountable on a grander scale to the same quality research, educational materials, and resources it has always created. Visit the websites, https://www.latinofarmersusa.com and https://www.mano-y-ola.com, to discover more resources you could find beneficial.