A Lafayette Parish sugar and cattle producer is this year’s Louisiana Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Outstanding Young Farm Woman.
Amanda Duhon, 33, received the award at the Louisiana Farm Bureau's 102nd Annual Convention in New Orleans on June 27, 2024. Duhon is a first-generation sugarcane farmer and a fourth-generation cattle producer, but she said that wasn’t always the case.
“I was actually a first-generation cattle farmer until three years ago,” Duhon said. “My grandparents had cattle on both sides going back a few generations, but my parents didn't have cattle until three years ago whenever they purchased 30 head of for themselves. So, it's interesting to now be a fourth-generation cattle farmer whenever you're 33.”
In addition to managing the day-to-day duties of an 800-acre farming operation alongside her husband, Kelsi, Duhon is also a mom to three little boys, and the author of two children’s books. In 2020, Duhon said she started writing her first book, Case and the Sugar Run, to help educate children about how their food is produced.
“There was still a disconnect where kids didn't know where their food was coming from,” Duhon said. “So, I decided to do something about it, and I realized a dog could bridge the gap between everybody. I mean, everybody has a dog, people in apartments, people in the city, people in the country. So, I wrote a book about my dog, Case, and how he goes around and shows you how sugarcane goes from your farm to table.”
Duhon said that sometimes it can be difficult to be a woman in a man’s world, especially in the agriculture field, but it’s important for women to be involved in the industry.
“I want women to understand that they do have a role on the farm, Duhon said. “I'm one of those people that think ‘women can do tough things too.’ I love my husband, and I get his help as much as I can, but there's plenty of times where I'm the one who's hauling in ten sacks of feed because he can't be there. I'm the one who's having to go work the cattle or move them around from pen to pen or even from field to field. We really make it a partnership. And it's sometimes kind of hard. Sometimes I get frustrated, but then again, you remind yourself women can do hard things too. And we do and we get it done.”
As the 2024 Outstanding Young Farm Woman Award winner, Duhon received a $2,000 cash award from the Louisiana Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, a trip to the American Farm Bureau Fusion Conference in Denver, Colorado, a $500 cash award by BASF, and two $250 cash awards courtesy of Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation and Louisiana Farm Bureau Insurance Companies.
Here's a video about her:
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