Women who impacted agriculture

Mar 08, 2016

Shedding light on contributions of some women on International Women's Day

By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com

Every March 8, International Women’s Day is celebrated as a way to show respect and appreciation for all women across all industries.

Farms.com would be remiss to not acknowledge a few of the women who have impacted agriculture through their various contributions.

Stephanie Kwolek (1923 – 2014)
A chemist with the DuPont company for over 40 years, Kwolek is best known for inventing kevlar. Kevlar’s use in agriculture range from tires and clothing to gloves and clutches for agricultural machinery. Her work earned her many accolades including being the only woman to receive DuPont’s Lavoisier Medal and in 1995 she became the fourth woman to enter the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Anna Baldwin (1857 – 1963)
Farmers who use automated milking machines instead of hand milking can thank Anna Baldwin for inventing the first automatic milking machine. Patented in 1879, Baldwin’s machine consisted of a rubber pump attached to a cow’s udder with a pump lever used to draw out the milk into a bucket. Baldwin’s invention would be the inspiration for future automatic milkers.

Mary-Dell Chilton (1939 - )
Mary-Dell Chilton is considered one of the founders of modern plant biotechnology. In 1976 at the University of Washington, she discovered that a bacterial cell could be transferred into the DNA of another plant. She worked at Ciba-Geigy, which would become Syngenta Biotechnology. While there, she helped establish an industry leader in biotechnology programs and helped make it possible to increase yields and resistance to insects and disease. She continues her work at Syngenta and in 2015 was elected into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Farms.com would like to thank all women in agriculture for their current, past and future contributions to the industry.

Use the hashtags #IWD2016 and #InternationalWomensDay to follow celebrations on social media.

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