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\\u201cWe want to see farms like yours be very successful and profitable because your profit directly relates to our ability to create a more sustainable, healthy planet and continue to access and grow food.\\u201d

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Lori Taylor (16:12-16:37)

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Beth Bocock went from saying, \\u201cI\\u2019ll never marry a farmer!\\u201d to becoming one of the second owners of Bumbleberry Acres with her husband, working for Naturipe and being the head of Bumbleberry\\u2019s agritourism. The farm, originally 600 acres and now 44, had been around since 1857 and caught Beth and her husband\\u2019s eye when they were driving and saw a \\u201cfor sale\'\' sign. Immediately after buying, they asked their kids, \\u201cwhat would you want to do if you came here to work? If this was a vacation destination, what would you want to see?\\u201d

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This helped inspire the Bococks\\u2019 to add a petting zoo of miniature animals to the farm, opening the door for Bumbleberry to become a wonderful, family-friendly destination. When visitors arrive at Bumbleberry, they\\u2019re taken care of by the \\u201cBumbleberry Girls\\u201d who are specifically trained to interact with customers and treat them like family. The girls know every inch of the farm, from the dirt, to the berries and how they are grown. Beth\\u2019s focus with the girls (they hire three every year) is to empower them to learn where things on the farm come from, so visitors too can always be learning every step of the way through their experience.\\xa0

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\\u201cIt was important for us that families do not feel like they\\u2019re going to a farm and getting nickel-and-dimed to death.\\u201d Beth Bocock (7:41-7:48)

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What\\u2019s it like spending a day at Bumbleberry Acres? Visitors can enjoy activities like the U-pick for blueberries, a corn maze and wagon ride around fall, delicious food with ingredients straight\\xa0 from the farm, and plenty of blueberry pies during their Blueberry Festival in August. Beth really wants visitors to understand where food really comes from, how we\\u2019re helping take care of the planet, and the responsibility and respect to her kids that comes with providing these products to consumers.\\xa0

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Did you know more than half of the world\\u2019s profits from produce items are not getting back to growers? Farmers are dealing with profit crunches the same way we\\u2019re dealing with a sudden rise in all of our expenses, and to not have the amount of profit they deserve hitting their pockets could damage our entire agricultural supply chain.\\xa0

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Beth also works with Naturipe Farms, who you know from past episodes is a great place full of empowered women! Beth says there are many more women involved at the company and farming in general than there were 20 years ago. She used to go to meetings with her husband and there\\u2019d only be a few other women in there, and women speakers were unheard of. But today you\\u2019ll even see women running a farm after their husband has passed away, completely uninhibited and capable of performing any of the tasks on a farm.

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\\u201cWe pay particular attention to the girls because we want to give them a stepping stone to be empowered women. We look at girls not like they\\u2019re unemployable by someone else, but that they\\u2019re not going to get the same education we\\u2019re going to teach them to be strong women.\\u201d Beth Bocock (27:03-27:13)

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Beth wants Bumbleberry to empower women just as well as Naturipe has. Every girl they interview to work on the farm is looked at for their potential for future leadership, not just their personality and resume. Beth takes note of how they interact with people, how compassionate they are, and it\\u2019s paid off. Of the 36 girls they\\u2019ve hired, each have gone into a position of leadership in or outside of farming.\\xa0

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Whether it\\u2019s empowering consumers to understand where their food comes from and how to support farmers, empowering women to accomplish anything they want in agriculture (from the field to CFO), or empowering farmers to make the profits they deserve, Beth Bocock, Blueberry Acres and Naturipe Farms all are doing incredible things to create empowered opportunities for all.

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How to get involved

• Join The Produce Moms Group on Facebook and continue the discussion every week!\\xa0
• Reach out to us - we\\u2019d love to hear more about where you are in life and business! Find out more here.\\xa0

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If you liked this episode, be sure to subscribe and leave a quick review on iTunes. It would mean the world to hear your feedback and we\\u2019d love for you to help us spread the word!

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