Agriculture is an important field worldwide that has traditionally been run by men. Though recently, agricultural education has become 55.5% women and 46.7% men. This is a huge breakthrough for the industry and shows hope for equality in the future. An example of one of these strong agricultural educators is Alli Youngbauer. She currently teaches agriculture at Susan Clark Junior High in Muscatine after freshly graduating from Iowa State University.

Something unique about Ms. Youngbauer is that she graduated from Muscatine High School and went through the same agriculture and FFA program that she is now teaching. 

“I was kind of an all around person in FFA, I did a lot of contests. One of my favorite memories was my Junior year when my poultry team made it all the way to Nationals,” said Youngbauer. 

Though Youngbauer learned a lot in her time as a student at MHS, she gives Iowa State a lot of credit for her agriculture experience. One thing she said that helped her the most was her various internships over her college summers that helped her bring unique aspects to her future classroom.

“It’s a surreal moment that I’m teaching here in Muscatine as I was a student not long ago, but I really think it gives me an upper hand on the community aspect,” said Youngbauer.

Muscatine is a tight knit community with lots of contributing aspects. But college can be a completely different environment. One thing about college is the support system between students. And now that women are more prominent, it makes advancing careers and making connections easier for those strong women.

“It’s really encouraging that you can now spot all of the women working really hard to educate kids on the importance of agriculture,” said Youngbauer. 

Though it is still a stereotype that men run agriculture, women are making their place and impact on the industry, especially in educating young people about all of the different pathways in agri, and that they can make a difference.

“Agriculture isn’t just about farming, there are jobs in communication and business, and so many jobs relate to agriculture. Everyone can make their impact,” said Youngbauer.