We work tirelessly to make connections and partnerships with farmers throughout Central PA, making sure the surplus and abundance grown and raised in our region stays within our communities. In celebration of Women’s History Month, we wanted to honor and highlight some of the female owned farms we partner with to get healthy, local, fresh food to our neighbors’ plates.

One of these partnerships is with Jenni, owner of New Morning Farm located in Hustontown, PA. Jenni has been a part of New Morning Farm since 2009, when she started as an apprentice and has since become owner and operator. With over a decade in the ag industry, Jenni has a cornucopia of knowledge and experience, so we asked her some questions that she answered honestly below.

How has the partnership with Central Pennsylvania Food Bank impacted your farm and community?Like many small farms and farmers, our time is completely consumed by our work growing and selling produce.  Our partnership with the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, and our local food bank partners is essential to get food that would otherwise go to waste to enthusiastic folks in our community.  Often, we have produce that is good quality, but we won’t be taking it back to market, or we just have more in the field than we can sell.  The Food Bank is a wonderful way to get the full benefit of all our hard work and get more good food onto plates.

What or who inspires you? Life, biology, the miracle of plants growing in good soil, and into abundance to share.  I’m inspired everyday by the grit and creativity of our team of growers and apprentices, and by many, many small vegetable farmers creating viable sustainable farms and sharing their ideas, and experiences good and bad.

You started out as an apprentice and now own New Morning Farm, what has that transition taught you? Being an apprentice here taught me hundreds of lessons on how to identify challenges, reach out and get information and ideas from more experienced folks and farms, and create, plan, trial, and implement responses to these challenges.  Whether in our fields, or at market, I’d say everything we do is within groups and networks of partnership and collaboration.

There is a small farm paradigm, and I feel it too, that we should do it all. Create our own fertility, build a fantastically healthy soil, grow many, many crops in abundance, and sell it all. As well as, serving our employees, customers, community, farm owners, the land, the environment, and mitigate climate change. This is simply not possible, but by working together in partnerships suddenly we can do many of these things.

How have you seen women making an impact in the Ag industry? Don’t like this question. Women are the ag industry but seen is the key word.  Farmer’s wives were always and are farmers.  Same for farm workers, same for packing house workers.  Same for those working markets, sales, and keeping books.  That being said: I’ve had this odd experience of farming here at New Morning Farm and within the wonderful community of farmers within PASA, where all farmers are mostly treated equitably.  So, I see women all over the ag industry every day and in every way.

We are grateful for Jenni’s partnership and the work she and her team are doing through New Morning Farm. We are excited to see how her farm keeps growing, evolving and bettering her community.