Katelyn Duban’s The Rural Woman podcast has been downloaded more than 200,000 times
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A Lethbridge, Alta. farmer is carving out a niche for herself in the world of podcasts.
Episodes of Katelyn Duban’s podcast, The Rural Woman, have been downloaded more than 200,000 times by listeners in more than 140 countries, including Zimbabwe, since she published her first episode in 2019.
“It’s mind-blowing to me,” she told Farms.com. “When I started this I didn’t know how many people would be interested in listening to all of these stories.”
Episode 101 of the podcast will be available to listeners Friday.
Duban spends between four and five hours working on each hour-long episode. She interviews, edits, uploads, publishes and promotes the podcast on her social media channels @wildrosefarmer.
The first-generation farmer used to have a 9-5 government job. Today she raises certified organic grains and oilseeds with her multigenerational farmer husband Justin, whom she married in 2016.
She came up with the idea for a podcast when she noticed a lack of ag podcasts focusing on women’s accomplishments.
“I was in the tractor and one thing I found while looking for podcasts in the agriculture space is there wasn’t anything specifically about sharing the stories of women in agriculture in a way they were celebrated,” she said. “They were more or less shared as a matter of fact story that’s nothing special. But in my eyes, women in agriculture wear so many hats and are amazing.”
To Duban, celebrating women in ag means showcasing the number of roles and responsibilities women play in agriculture. Some of the roles are visible while others may happen behind the scenes.
To support this, Duban doesn’t just interview women from one sector within agriculture. Nor does she solely interview Canadian women.
Her interviewees include a soil scientist from New Zealand and a rancher from Oregon whose story provided motivation for Duban on at least one occasion.
“In episode 99 I talked to Mickey Willenbring, a former combat veteran from the U.S. Army,” Duban said. “She was badly wounded in combat, came back home, picked up her life and is running a ranch as a wounded war veteran. The day the episode came out I was kind of struggling to get through the day. That episode came on and I had tears in my eyes thinking if Mickey can do it, I can do it.”
Visitors to Duban’s website will notice she has merchandise for sale and offers a podcast coaching class.
She has become a brand, which factors into some of her decisions surrounding the podcast.
“I want the podcast to be a direct reflection of who I am,” she said. “Inclusivity and mental health are close to my heart and those are things I will talk about even when they’re not trending online.”
Listeners appear to enjoy Duban’s work.
On Apple Podcasts, The Rural Woman had 101 ratings and has an overall rating of 4.9 out of 5.
Listeners find the conversations relatable.
“I stumbled upon this podcast on a long road trip,” one user wrote on April 2, 2021. “I have gone back and listened to a ton of the older podcasts. When I’m having a hard day and feeling frustrated – I find one of these podcasts. My feelings feel validated but also put things into perspective. Big fan!”
The Rural Woman is also available on Spotify, Stitcher and CastBox.
Looking for more ag podcasts? Check out this list of eight ag-inspired podcasts worth checking out.
Ciara Sandum Photography photo