Franklin County women star in television show

April Hemmes and Shannon Latham talk about role of women in agriculture on television
     Operating a farm can be considered the oldest family business. Men, women and children, throughout farming’s history in the world and America, have spent much of their lives working to sustain their own lives and feed the community at large, through sowing crops, milking cows, churning butter, cleaning, cooking, etc. The family farm most likely didn’t operate based on gender roles, rather operated on getting the job done or else, it wouldn’t.
     Yet over time, the business and practice of agriculture has been largely depicted as primarily male. From commercials to magazine articles, men have been depicted as the typical farmer, while women’s roles in agriculture have seemed to go unnoticed.
     Hampton’s own April Hemmes and Shannon Latham are two women working to shine a light on women’s roles and accomplishments in agriculture. Both, holding leadership positions in Franklin County agriculture, as well as public speakers at state symposiums about agriculture, took their initiatives to a wider audience, having been featured on the RFD TV program, “FarmHer.”
     FarmHer, founded in 2013 by photographer Margie Guyler-Alaniz, is “working to change the image of agriculture-to include women in that image through photographs and stories,” according to the FarmHer website.
    Read the full article in the November 9 edition of the Hampton Chronicle.