A 25 years old Co Cavan woman is continuing to shine a spotlight on women in agriculture.
Sophie Bell took on the Virginia farm during her Leaving Certificate when her dad moved out of the country for work.
She is now contract-rearing heifers, while working as a civil servant, a relief milker and completing a Masters and a blogger.
Sophie studied animal science and agriculture at Harper Adams University in the UK. Today, she has 100 animals on the farm and she has amassed over 100k followers on social media where she uses online platforms to highlight farming.
The local woman says social media has been a wonderful platform for her to highlight the importance of agriculture.
Sophie is certainly going 'against the grain' when it comes to farming in the 21st century. "I have documented my farm journey on social media to raise awareness of and promote young female farmers. I work a lot on improving equality in agriculture. In this space, I have organised workshops for women to help with their confidence, as well as helping other young girls who want to study or work in the agriculture sector, giving guidance and advice on how to get started.
"I speak in schools, using my personal experience to inspire young people to consider a career in agriculture; even those not from a farming background can still progress in the industry. For my Masters I am studying social science, so I’m interested in learning the behaviours of successful people management to help inform farmers.
"I think it’s easy to see where I am today and think I’m very lucky, but it has taken countless hours of hard work, dedication and drive from a very young age to get to this point! I think just keep pushing and asking, just get your foot in the door somehow and go from there."
