10/05/2026
From coast to coast to coast, we see women making a major impact on our food and farming systems. They overcome fierce challenges, feed their communities, and inspire us everyday! International Year of the Woman Farmer (IYWF) is the perfect opportunity for us to share some of their stories with you 👩🌾
Kerry McCann joined our COG Board of Directors this year. As the co-founder of Laughing Crow Organics, for over thirteen years Kerry built and operated a diversified farm rooted in stewardship, community engagement, and direct-to-market sales, including CSA, farmers’ markets, wholesale, and agritourism. Kerry brings a relational and systems-aware approach to leadership and collaboration and is passionate about translating the complexity of farming into workable approaches for growers, focusing on whole-farm systems design, team leadership, and mentorship, with an emphasis on building resilient, place-based farm businesses.
For this post, we're excited to share Kerry's thoughts on some of the women doing exciting things in ag from her perspective! Here is what she had to say:
"I remember sitting in a workshop room early on in our farm's life, listening to Lydia Ryall of tell the story of how she started her farm and got there, and something in me recalibrated. Years later, she's still building, still innovating, and still one of the first people to pick up the phone and share what she's learned with someone who's struggling. That's the kind of leadership that actually moves an industry forward. People who stay reachable while they scale.
I've found the same thing in farmers like Emma Jagoz of who's scaled her operation into a farm and food hub yet hasn't stopped showing up in policy rooms and on the phone with farmers like me who need an occasional sounding board.
Women like this aren't inspiring because they make it look easy, they're inspiring because they tell you honestly how hard it is, or has been, and then help you figure it out anyway. Whether it's farm systems, management, or scaling a business, having women I could call and actually talk it through with has been an invaluable resource."
