LeCows Dairy in Paducah is the last dairy farm in McCracken County. Passed down over generations, the family farm is now a women-owned business, with co-ownership between Ellie Gore Waggoner and her mother Lesa Elliott Clark. Ellie will be among the farmers in the Q&A session after the screening of the documentary "Farmland" at Maiden Alley Cinema on Friday, July 31, hosted by The Kentucky Soybean Board and CommonGround of Kentucky. The latter is an organization of Kentucky women offering conversations between women who grow food and women who buy it. On Sounds Good, Kate Lochte speaks with Waggoner about her experience in farming and the upcoming film.
Ellie Waggoner says the farm evolved into a women-owned business when her grandfather passed it down to her mother and her. Having grown up working on the farm, her mother knew most of the operations already, but had to learn some of the business aspects. The dairy farm has between 90 to 100 cows, milked twice every day, and grows soybean, corn, wheat, oats and hay (for the cows). Now with three kids, Waggoner manages milking primarily on the weekends. Her husband works off the farm, mother runs most of the business, planting and harvesting, father helps with night milking and they have hired assistance for weekday milking. The milk goes to Saputo in Murray.
She got involved in CommonGround from a friend on The Soybean Board who thought she'd be a great fit because of her passion for sharing stories about agriculture and farming. She feels the discussion is helpful in sharing the stories of farmers, how they produce food, take pride in what they do, puts a face on the next generation of farmers and helps consumers feel comfortable about where their food comes from. She says she identifies with all of the farmers in the documentary and hopes that it sparks a conversation about modern agriculture.
On GMOs, Waggoner says they have been a tool that's helped them increase their farm, with more productive crop yields. Much of the controversy about GMOs comes from people concerned about health issues. To this, Waggoners says, "I am not concerned about feeding my children genetically modified crops. They are safe and I have no problem feeding them to my family."
The documentary "Farmland" will be screening at Maiden Alley Cinema on Friday, July 31 at 6:30 p.m. with a reception at 5:30 p.m. RSVPs are due today (Friday).
Meet the farmers:
More about CommonGround Kentucky
More about the Farmland documentary
For more information, email rwagoner@kysoy.org.
