200. Dr. Tammy Gray-Steele on Increasing the Impact of Agriculture

How can we make more and better farming resources available to everyone? In this episode, we’re joined by Dr. Tammy Gray-Steele, Founder of the National Women in Agriculture Association and a fourth-generation black woman farmer. For over 13 years, Dr. Tammy Gray-Steele has been seeking to have legislation passed that will re-distribute the balance of power and funding to achieve substantive change in the agricultural sector.  NWIAA’s mission is to engage minority youth and female farmers to reach their fullest potential, while advancing in the field of agriculture - providing life skills, career opportunities, and the mentorship needed to become prosperous citizens.  Listen in to today’s episode to hear all about what Tammy does and how she’s bringing equality to this age-old profession. You’ll hear: What led Tammy to agriculture 1:15 Tammy’s work on the USDA advisory council 7:12 Challenges women face in agriculture 8:25 Minority Women Farmers Equality Inclusion Act 20:00 The most rewarding part of the job, according to Tammy 23:39 What people can do to get involved 33:28 What the Soil Sisters project is 35:01  About the Guest: Dr. Tammy Gray-Steele is the Founder/CEO of National Women In Agriculture Association, the largest non-profit Women In Agriculture Organization in the World. Dr. Tammy Gray-Steele AGRICULTURIST. ENTREPRENEUR. STRATEGIC BUSINESS DEVELOPER. EDUCATOR. CIVIL RIGHTS WOMEN & CHILDREN ADVOCATE. Dr. Tammy Gray-Steele is the first American agricultural specialist, agripreneur, educator, and women and children advocate. Born and raised on a farm, she received her secondary education in the rustic and rural community of Wewoka, Oklahoma. Upon graduating high school, Dr. Steele left Oklahoma to pursue a dual educational and business career in New York City. Armed with the legal degree she obtained from New York University Law School, and the requisite legal business experience she acquired on Manhattan's Wall Street, she returned home to her family farm, and started to give back to the Oklahoma rural communities, in the process working full-time in the Oklahoma Corporate legal arena, and devoting time to study for a Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA), Horticulture and Childcare Development Certifications. On the broader national turf, Dr. Steele is a former USDA-SARE Advisory Main Council Member. Additionally, she had the rare honor of being appointed by President Barack Obama's administration as a distinguished USDA-NASS Advisory Councilwoman, served on USDA Grant Panels and a USDA Strategic Action Team Leader. Dr. Steele serves on various scholarship committees that were instituted for the educational empowerment of the youth. In addition, she offers invaluable support to the Oklahoma City Black Chamber of Commerce, apart from volunteering on various rural Chamber of Commerce boards. Deploying uncommon intellectual energy and superlative personal industry to achieve exemplary and duly-acknowledged results-oriented performance in both individual and team activities, Dr. Steele has demonstrated unrivaled commitment in assisting counties in the State of Oklahoma with expert knowledge in healthy food production at a level that matches any known empirical and international standards. In the process, she has managed to build for herself an unassailable reputation, and a formidable pedigree, as a widely-sought after agricultural expert who is never short of strategic, innovative and entrepreneurial solutions to challenges in the agricultural sector of the economy. Sincerely motivated by an altruistic desire to empower the socially and economically disadvantaged, and to deliver timely awareness and education to those who truly desire a sustainably healthier lifestyle, Dr. Steele established National Women In Agriculture Association in 2008. Since then, she has employed the powerful and influential instrumentality of NWIAA to pursue her agenda of sustainable development in America's agricultural sector. To this end, in January 2014, Dr. Steele opened NWIAA’s first Sustainable Agriculture Academy in the United States, located on the Eastside of the Oklahoma City Metro Area, and in close proximity to the city's largest African American population. It was in the light of this that Dr. Steele was recognized at the White House in February 2014, for leading the country in efforts to save and educate America's youth using environmental and innovative agriculture-based sustainable best practices, and in the spring of 2013, she was awarded a humanitarian honorary doctorate for exemplary performance as one of the most influential agro-business community developers amongst her generation in the United States. Dr. Steele  can be reached at [email protected] or (405) 424-4623 for speaking engagements, and for teaching sustainable business techniques that can rapidly develop communities. Resources: Website: www.nwiaa.org Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nationalwomeninag  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nwiaa_2008/  The Thriving Farmer Podcast Team would like to thank our amazing sponsor! At AgriGro, we know that in today’s modern agriculture, our efforts can deplete life or add life. 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