Cooperative Living July 2024 - 8

FARM LIFE
Cattle and
calves, corn and
soybeans are
the top three U.S.
farm products.
Taking a Challenge by the Horns
Maryland woman educates as Ms. Agvocate USA
by Sean Clougherty, Delmarva Farmer
G
rowing up on a farm in a
predominantly suburban part
of Anne Arundel County, Md.,
Lindsey Jacobs oſt en got many questions
from the public when showing her
Hereford beef cattle.
It helped form her sense of advocacy
for the industry, which she is now
embarking on more formally as Ms.
Agvocate USA 2024.
Th e Miss Agvocate USA program
was launched in 2023 to help young
women promote the farming industry.
According to its website, 14 " agvocacy "
titles range from young child to adult.
Jacobs took on her new role as Ms.
Agvocate USA 2024 in March. She is
now working to interact with the public
as much as possible to share her story
in person and through social media.
Jacobs says she's been in contact
with the popular Maryland Public
Television program, " Maryland Farm
and Harvest, " about possibly being
featured in an upcoming episode. She
hopes to connect with more groups
6 * Cooperative Living * July 2024
and events to better inform the public
about Maryland farming.
" I spent April and May emailing
everyone I could possibly think of, and
now things are just starting to come
together, " she says.
Jacobs graduated from the University
of Maryland in 2020 with a degree
in agriculture and natural resource
economics and is currently pursuing
a graduate degree in food service and
biosecurity at Virginia Tech.
Her family's Church View Farm
grew multiple crops in the early 1900s.
However, it didn't start breeding
registered Polled Hereford cattle until
the 1960s while maintaining about 400
acres of hay and pastureland. Jacobs'
grandfather, William E. Baldwin III,
mother, Tara, and brother, Anthony,
keep the operation going. " We're a farm
surrounded by suburbia and a half, "
Jacobs laughs.
As a livestock exhibitor going to
county and state fairs, Jacobs says she's
gotten many " mind-blowing " questions
and comments about her animals from
the public.
One that stands out in particular
to her was from a fairgoer who insisted
Jacobs' cows were not beef cattle because
they had udders, which the fairgoer
claimed beef animals don't have.
" We've had some experiences, "
she says, " It all comes down to basic
education and public awareness. "
As one of the few farm kids in her
school growing up, Jacobs says she always
educated her classmates when they were
curious about livestock farming.
" I was kind of always doing it anyway
and not really thinking about it, " she
says of her early advocacy. " Now I get
to educate more people than ever.
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learn more about The
Delmarva Farmer
Th is article comes fr om the Delmarva
farmer, an agricultural newspaper for
the mid-atlantic region.
co-opliving.com
PHOTO BY SEAN CLOUGHERTY
https://american-farm-publications.shopify.com/products/the-delmarva-farmer-3-free-months-qr.com http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living July 2024

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