“There is no one way to do something”

Ayşe Öksüz, dairy farmer and veterinary student, Eskişehir (Turkey)

 

Ayşe Öksüz from Eskişehir in central Turkey is only 21 years old, but she has been running her own farm for five years. The veterinary student is passionate about Jersey cows and in the process of building up a dairy farm with the help of her family, and she does it all without any farming background. All the while, she shows her 15.600 followers her everyday life in gripping, emotional footage, trying to inspire young people to get involved in agriculture.

Ayşe’s approachable style of making content and advocating for our industry online got her the DLG Best Instagrammer International 2024 Award, presented at EuroTier in Hannover last November. As the only woman to get an Influencer Award this year, Ayşe is an exemplary ambassador for young women in agriculture.

Ayşe, please introduce yourself!

Hi, my name is Ayşe, I am 21 years old and I’m from Eskişehir, Türkiye. I am a farmer and a veterinary student. I started farming when  I was 16. No one in my family is a farmer so it has been a challenging road. Now I have a jersey dairy farm with purebred jerseys, we have some land where we grow crops to feed the cows and we sell our milk in retail with our own sales team. We also have delivery service and everything!

Tell us more about your geographical location.

I find Eskişehir a fascinating city: you can experience all the seasons to the full extent, especially if you are a farmer. The spring is when the flowers start to bloom, there is no harsh cold, but you are also not annoyed by the heat and the warm spring rains are something special. In summer it’s hot but it’s also very special to work in the field all day under the sun because when the work is done, the whole crew gets together for ice cream made from our cow’s milk and it is worth every single minute of that effort! In fall we start to wrap up the season and prepare the farm for the cold winter, which is my least favourite season because all the summer employees (me as well) must go away for school. However, in winter the snow makes everything look like a fairytale, you can feel the magic in the air – or it could be your nose falling from your face because of the cold (laughs). The city itself is crowded but not overwhelming. The amazing scenery makes this place perfect for growing old with your loved ones. I think I managed to make this farm a part of this city over the last five years.

How did you get into agriculture?

As I mentioned, I don’t have any background in agriculture. During the covid pandemic, my family purchased some land at about fifteen minutes away from our house. The idea was just to buy some chickens and maybe a cow so we could have our own food in the house, but it soon turned into me selling the milk to neighbours and friends and then expanding the farm overtime with the financial help from my family. Now we have a team of eight people including me working in animal care, feeding, milking, sales, delivery and finance. We sell about 500-600 litres of A2 jersey milk in retail with our own packaging.

When did you decide to share online about agriculture, and why this decision?

Our farm always had an Instagram account and I always liked getting feedback from customers and finding out which table our product ended up on. At one point, even though I don’t like being the centre of attention, I decided that people should know who’s working behind the scenes to produce their milk, so I share not only about my own work but also show the work the other farm workers are putting in.

What do you talk about on your platform and what is the goal of your sharing online about agriculture?

I mainly share about my work, I don’t like to involve my personal life as I think no one would find that interesting. Cows are far more interesting!

I share informative videos about dairy farming, genetics and I share our accomplishments. I like to include some funny videos because kids like them and I do too. Originally I just wanted people to see the extraordinary things that I get to witness every day: the birth of a calf, the seed growing into a full-grown plant with care and the sunrise and sunset on our rural city, the birds and how nature always finds a way to continue its cycle. This is all nothing less than a miracle!

How do you respond to negative comments or perception towards agriculture in the comment section of your posts?

Negative comments always get to me, I can’t deny that. I care and I’m always upset when I get those. However, I think I’ve learned to not respond in those cases. If my reaction can’t teach anything new to other people, then I shouldn’t even bother to type. I mostly get hate from people who don’t know what farming is. They think all farmers are the same. No politician is like the other, there are different make-up artists, not all architects design the same structures,… so why would all farmers be the same? When people visit my farm the best compliment I get is that “I would like to be a cow in this farm”.

Do you feel you have changed the way people see agriculture because of what you shared?

I get a lot of comments about how people thought they were really farming and after they saw my account they realized they were barely aware of their potential. So, I hope my account keeps influencing people in the right way!

Do you notice differences in perception towards women in agriculture or online? How do you handle those?

Yes I do and it is also why I like to show the hard work that women in my farm put in, so that people notice there is no one way to do something. It might take me ten more minutes than when a man does the same work, but the important part is that the work is done in the right way. I definitely think the men in our industry could be more responsible towards their work because their mistakes are always dumped on women, implying that female farmers can’t “keep up” because they are more mindful about how they do things. I find it very annoying and disrespectful.

If you could give young women who dream of a career in agriculture a piece of advice, what would it be?

Always be careful and always make sure you step your feet on solid ground. Don’t be afraid to do the work but don’t feel ashamed to delegate. You are not there to prove a point. Find the balance within your mind.

If you could give other people in agriculture who want to share about their work online a piece of advice, what would that be?

My advice would be: find your own style. I personally keep my work and personal life apart and I would advise that to them as well. If you are representing a business, then you are responsible to do it in the right way and to not cause conflict. You are responsible to every single person who works in that business because when you start sharing, you are reflecting your whole industry for your audience. Do not take that responsibility lightly.

Agriculture is something to be excited about. Don’t ever stop getting excited even about the smallest things. Make sure to be inspired and inspire others.

You can follow Ayşe, aka jerseyvet:

On Instagram

On YouTube

 

This article was published in Women in Ag Mag 2024-004. Click here to read the magazine

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