Jessica Pfisterer didn’t want to be a farmer when she was younger
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Ignore the haters.
That’s part of the message Jessica Pfisterer, a hay, cash crop and beef producer from Arthur, Ont., would tell her 12-year-old self.
“I’d tell her not to worry about what others say and focus on doing your own thing,” she told Farms.com. “If you just worry about paving your own way then you can find a place in this industry and a seat at the table.”
When she was that age and thought about what to do when she grew up, farming wasn’t on Pfisterer’s radar.
She grew up in Guelph and figured she’d be doing something in the city.
“I didn’t own a pair of rubber boots until I was in my 20s,” she said. “I was very urban focused and that’s where I thought my life would take me. At my wedding my dad said he couldn’t believe all the things I’ve done since meeting my husband. And my uncle said of all his nieces and nephews he’d never thought it would be me to help hook up a trailer hitch.”
Together with her husband Ryan, she has two boys, Boone, and Rip.
The Pfisterer family (Jessica, Ryan, Boone and Rip)
The couple started with a one-acre property in 2018. And in 2019 purchased their 100-acre forever farm.
And Pfisterer is involved with the Wellington Federation of Agriculture.
She has a day job related to technology, in addition to running a photography business, and the farm, which sells products directly to consumers and offers agritourism experiences for visitors.
She also helped design a farm business course for producers.
Pfisterer credits some of her success with having a network of mentors for support.
One woman she wanted to highlight is Janet Harrop, co-owner of Harrcroft Acres, a dairy farm near Fergus.
“Farmers are so busy, but Janet makes it a point to try to improve the lives of everyone in agriculture and rural Ontario,” she said. “Janet has been such a source of inspiration for me to continue pursuing my passion and supporting the OFA’s motto of farms and food forever.”
Lisa Hern, a local OFA member service representative and a Wellington County councillor, is another source of inspiration for Pfisterer.
Pfisterer’s goals include growing the farm, and ensuring agriculture is available to the next generation to support a strong and healthy food system across the country.
Seeing Hern in her different roles provides a bar Pfisterer wants to achieve.
“She’s always encouraging us to push to achieve what we want. She’s proof that we really can have it all,” Pfisterer said.
When Pfisterer looks around at many of the people involved in her life, they are women.
The image of what agriculture looks like is changing, she says.
“When people used to think of farmers and agriculture, it was a middle-aged man in a straw hat,” she said. “Our accountant is a woman, our representative at FCC is a woman, our ferrier and our vet, all women.”
Farms.com is highlighting multiple women in ag as International Women’s Day draws closer.
The other women who have participated are:
- Jamie Tiralla, who traded in her career as a gemologist for one in agriculture in Calvert County, Md.,
- Sally Parsonage, a Westman, Man. farmer who considers her sister one of her biggest inspirations,
- Jennifer Meyer, a cash crop and livestock producer from Wilton, N.D., who in 2020 became the first woman elected to the North Dakota Soybean Council, and
- Paige Dueck, a dairy and grain farmer from Kleefeld, Man.