NEW ORLEANS — A Lafayette Parish sugar and cattle producer is this year’s Louisiana Farm Bureau Young Farmers and Ranchers Outstanding Young Farm Woman.

Amanda Duhon, 33, received the award Thursday, June 27 at the Louisiana Farm Bureau’s 102nd annual convention. Duhon is a first-generation sugarcane farmer and a fourth-generation cattle producer, but she said that wasn’t always the case.

“I was actually a first-generation cattle farmer until three years ago,” Duhon said. “My grandparents had cattle on both sides going back a few generations, but my parents didn’t have cattle until three years ago whenever they purchased 30 head of for themselves. So, it’s interesting to now be a fourth-generation cattle farmer whenever you’re 33.”

Duhon and her husband, Kelsi, managing an 800-acre farming operation. She also is mother to three boys and author of two children’s books. Duhon said she started writing her first book, Case and the Sugar Run, in 2020 to help educate children about how their food is produced.

“There was still a disconnect where kids didn’t know where their food was coming from,” Duhon said. “So, I decided to do something about it, and I realized a dog could bridge the gap between everybody. I mean, everybody has a dog, people in apartments, people in the city, people in the country. So, I wrote a book about my dog, Case, and how he goes around and shows you how sugarcane goes from your farm to table.”  

Duhon said it can be difficult to be a woman in agriculture, but added it’s important for women to be involved in the industry.

“I want women to understand that they do have a role on the farm,” Duhon said. “I’m one of those people that think women can do tough things, too. I love my husband, and I get his help as much as I can, but there’s plenty of times where I’m the one who’s hauling in 10 sacks of feed because he can’t be there. I’m the one who’s having to go work the cattle or move them around from pen to pen or even from field to field. We really make it a partnership.”

Duhon received a $2,000 cash award from the Louisiana Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, a trip to the American Farm Bureau Fusion Conference in Denver, a $500 cash award from BASF and two $250 cash awards courtesy of Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation and Louisiana Farm Bureau Insurance Companies.

Founded in 1921, the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation is the state’s largest general farm organization representing more than 145,000 member families.

This article originally appeared on Gonzales Weekly Citizen: Lafayette Parish sugar, cattle producer honored by Louisiana Farm Bureau