Sutanya Ellington ‘Rocking The Boots and The Heels’

When she’s not out in the field tending to her animals or in front of a classroom full of eager students, National Farm Queen for 2022, Sutanya Ellington, can be found advocating for the equitable advancement of women in agriculture.

Since taking the coveted crown last summer at the Denbigh Agricultural Industrial Food Show, the Manchester native has built a network of other parish queens, whose mission is to use their platforms to encourage other women to get involved in the sector.

The network of queens, dubbed ‘Agro Ambassadors’, operates under the apt mantra ‘We know fi rock di boots and we know fi rock di heels’.

Ms. Ellington tells JIS News that the programme is a natural extension of her lifelong passion for farming.

“I basically grew up around different animals at home. Our backyard was relatively fruitful, which got me in the groove of agriculture. In that age, I didn’t know it as agriculture, I knew it as just farming,” she points out.

It was while she was a student at Bellfield High School that the young woman became exposed to the different aspects of agriculture and became actively involved with the Jamaica 4-H Clubs and its competitions. In 2015, she was crowned the National Pig Care and Management champion.

“This led me to see that I am definitely loving the field of agriculture, and I would want to go further in it,” she recalls.

Ms. Ellington graduated from high school with a grade one in agricultural science and later enrolled in the College of Agriculture, Science and Education (CASE).

Looking back, she says she received immense support to propel her towards her current roles as an agricultural teacher, farmer and advocate.

“I had a very good teacher by the name of Mr. Hibbert, who basically pushed us and launched us into various training seminars where agriculture is concerned and just to learn about agriculture and the different aspects of it, the different careers and so on,” she explains.

“Because of the love I had for it (agriculture), I wanted to create more persons like me. I wanted to be a teacher that could make an impact just as how I was impacted by my teacher to go into the sector and to show persons that agriculture is attractive,” she adds.

Ms. Ellington was also a member of the Jamaica 4-H Clubs’ Youth Advocate Council where she says she “had a voice in agriculture”.

She tells JIS News that, “I decided I wanted an even stronger voice… . The National Farm Queen competition caught my eyes because it focuses on empowering women in agriculture”.

Winning the contest was only half of the way towards fulfilling her dream of really making an impact in agriculture, thus ‘Agro Ambassadors’ was born.

The farm queen describes the group as “Basically a network of queens across the island”.

“Our mission is to promote the importance of the agriculture sector to Jamaica’s economy by spreading awareness of projects and programmes provided by established organisations. We also aim to stimulate young people and females by targeting all youth from the basic school and beyond,” she outlines.

Agro Ambassadors is targeting the registration of more than 200 young people and female farmers with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) before July 2023 and is looking to sensitise at least 100 females, aged 18 to 25, about the national farm queen competition.

The group also has the ambition of introducing 50 young people to aquaculture and aquaponics through the Jamaica 4-H Clubs.

The Agro Ambassadors will also be visiting and promoting agricultural events within their parishes. This is in addition to establishing one sustainable school garden in each parish, among other things.

As the global community marks International Women’s Day 2023 on March 8, under the theme ‘Embrace Equity,’ Ms. Ellington is encouraging more young women to participate in the sector.

“When we speak about embracing equity, we want young females to understand that agriculture is not for males alone. Your creativity, your innovativeness, your talent is needed in the sector, and it is valued just as much and we have to show the world that women are strong and women are capable,” she elaborates.

“When I just started doing agriculture, a lot of persons were skeptical and said ‘you really want to leave school to become a farmer?’… Agriculture was a male-dominated sector, and we tend to think that because agriculture requires this great strength, females are not competent,” she notes further.

Ms. Ellington says that persons have commonly questioned why a ‘Farm King’ competition is not held, considering the yearly farm queen contest.

“The farm queen competition is solely for the purpose of getting females to have the recognition. It seeks to adorn female farmers, to make them the highlight in that evening segment of the Denbigh show, to show that our women are just as important and that they are powerful,” Ms. Ellington highlights.

She says she is confident that Jamaica has a knowledgeable, competent and passionate cadre of female farmers.

“As we say, we know how to rock the heels and the boots, so we are versatile. I most definitely believe that there should be equity in the sector because our input needs to be valued as well,” she continues.

For Ms. Ellington, the time has come for persons to disassociate agriculture with the image of tattered and torn clothes and strenuous labour, as the sector is now more dynamic and has incorporated technology and other modern elements.

Equally, the time has come to champion for women in the sector who are steadily blazing their own trail.

“Agriculture is for everybody, and females should be treated with the same respect as males… . We do have some bright and brilliant ideas to contribute to the sector,” Ms. Ellington adds.