FarmHer is working to change the way people perceive a farmer by sharing the stories of the women who live and lead in agriculture. Women have always been an important but mostly unseen aspect of agriculture. In recent years, women are rising to the forefront of agriculture in so many ways; as owner/operators, landowners, workers, mentors and much more.
For #InternationalWomensDay, FarmHer is sharing the #FacesOfFarmHer, to help shine a light on women’s roles in agriculture.
To celebrate, we’d like to introduce you to our team members, and #FacesOfFarmHer, who contribute to agriculture and RFD-TV each and every day. Although they spend their work week in the office, on set, or in the studio, these women are passionate about their work and are plowing a path for other women who dream about being involved in agriculture.
Agriculture Markets Producer, Audie Biggs
Audie is a producer and an economics researcher. Her research involves economics in Latin American ag industries such as coffee, cut flowers, and bananas. At RFD-TV as a producer, she does data entry for numerous ag reports to put on the air each day for RFD-TV’s Market Day Report.
RURAL AMERICA LIVE Producer, Becky Hirsch
Becky is a fifth generation “FarmHer” from Ft. Branch, Indiana, and proud to be farmer’s daughter who grew up on a corn, soybean and wheat farm in the Southwest tip of the state. Today, she works as the Producer for Rural America Live on RFD-TV which gives her the opportunity to work with the best of the best in agriculture with our live show airing each Monday and Thursday. Becky has been working at RFD-TV for 10 years where she also enjoys doing voice overs for the network. “My mom feels like I’m a little closer to home when she’s got her TV tuned to RFD-TV, and she gets to hear them! I feel blessed to have grown up in the country on the farm, and I feel blessed to get to continue working for rural America and the businesses who help farmers and of course FarmHers!”
Western Sports Producer, Charlsie Craig
Scandia, Kansas is where Charlsie calls home. Growing up in a small rural area, agricultural was easily a part of her everyday routine. Charlsie’s family owns 36 purebred Hereford cattle and run a 1,000 head starter feedlot. They also farm 500 acres where they grow everything from corn to soybeans to milo. Charlsie was a part of FFA, NBHA, 4-H, and the National Junior Hereford Association while in college. And while now she’s located in our studio headquarters in Nashville, TN, she is still heavily involved in her farm and help’s perfect the family herd’s Hereford genetics.
VP of Marketing, Heather Huston
Though Heather doesn’t have a traditional agriculture background, she has aggie roots with grandparents who operated farms, majored in poultry science, alongside farmer cousins and family members who also compete in the sport of rodeo. With two years under her belt at RFD-TV and RURAL RADIO, she has a new found respect for the people who work to feed us, a deeper understanding of western sports, and passion for our company goal of “reconnecting city with country.”
Executive Producer, Katie Dehlinger
Katie has spent eight years as an agriculture reporter and feels incredibly blessed to visit farms in more than 10 states. While she didn’t grow up on a farm, spending so much time in the industry has changed the way she thinks about not only food, but the world.
Coordinating Producer, Katie Farritor
Katie informs U.S. farmers and ranchers every day as the Coordinating Producer at RFD-TV. She keeps you up to date by writing stories for Market Day Report on everything from ag policy to crop conditions. Katie also spends time in the control room serving as a bug in the talent’s ear giving time cues and making the occasional joke to keep them smiling through five hours of news, weather, and markets.
RFD-TV’s News Anchor, Janet Adkison
Janet is from Houston, MO. She grew up on a beef farm where she spent summers showing livestock, horseback riding and working on creative projects with her art teacher mother. In high school, she followed in the footsteps of her father and her brother by taking an active role in the local FFA chapter and eventually represented her area as a state FFA officer.
Janet initially planned to pursue a degree in animal science at Missouri State University but discovered the variety of careers available in communications. Knowing her talking talents far outweighed her skills in chemistry, she changed her major to agricultural communications.
Shortly after graduation, she moved to Little Rock, AR to be a farm broadcaster for the Arkansas Radio Network. Since that initial step into the studio Janet has also worked for the Brownfield Network in Missouri, KFRM 550 AM in Clay Center, KS and seven years as the Farm Director for KMZU Radio in Carrollton, MO.
In the spring of 2013, Janet joined the Rural Media Group’s (RMG) broadcast team in Nashville, TN. The RMG experience has been a whirlwind of excitement as 2014 took her to the east coast to serve as the network’s Washington D.C. News Bureau Chief. From the nation’s capital city Janet covered the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the capital, and the White House while working with the organizations who represent farmers and rural communities impacted by legislative decisions. In 2016, Janet moved to Nashville, TN to serve as anchor for our news programming as part of the broadcast team for RFD-TV and RURAL RADIO Channel 147 on SiriusXM.
Throughout her broadcast career, Janet has been a member of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting. In 2008 she was selected to serve as the organization’s South Region Vice President and in 2011, she was elected her to the association’s Executive Committee and she served as NAFB President in 2014.
Marketing Associate, Taylor Gilkey
Taylor is a fourth generation FarmHer from the small town of Princeton, KY and has been knee deep in wheat fields and tobacco patches since she could walk. Growing up on her family’s 7,000-acre row crop farm, a passion for agriculture and rural life quickly developed. Taylor was an active Blue Jacket wearer during high school and has been barrel racing for 15 years. While attending college at Western Kentucky University, Taylor worked part time at WKU’s Dairy Unit milking cows for three years. Now, she works alongside RFD-TV’s marketing executives to help bring the best of rural America and RFD-TV’s THE AMERICAN rodeo to the spotlight.