#WomenInAg Spotlight: Rosella Mosby

#WomenInAg recognizes the contributions of women involved in agriculture during Women’s History Month (March). The American Farm Bureau Federation is proud to salute Rosella Mosby, a Washington farmer and Farm Bureau leader!

Mosby is president of her county Farm Bureau and a member of AFBF’s Grassroots Outreach (GO) Team. AFBF recently honored her as one of three “GO Teamers of the Year” for 2018, in recognition of her outstanding advocacy work on behalf of agriculture. Also in 2018, she traveled to Germany on a three-week exchange trip as a McCloy Fellow. Through the program, young American and German professionals broaden their professional experience and establish working relationships with transatlantic counterparts. In addition, Mosby serves on the Northwest Farm Credit Local Advisory Committee, King County Agriculture Commission, and Sumner and Auburn School Districts FFA Advisory Boards. She’s also a proud member of her local Rotary Club.

With her husband, Burr, Rosella owns and operates a “hand-weeded, hand-harvested” specialty vegetable farm on 350 acres, supplying grocery stores and produce houses in the Pacific Northwest. A first-generation farmer, she keeps track of public policy that will impact farm operations and actively speaks out on issues of concern, testifying and doing interviews with media outlets. She also manages social media, a website and retail seasonal sales for the farm. The Mosby’s four children, who range in age from 11 to 23, are all actively involved on the farm.

In “Farmers Squashed by Labor Shortage,” a 2017 video about the Mosbys produced by AFBF, they explained that the farm workforce is dwindling, and even with higher wages, it’s hard to find enough workers for harvest.

“I think we need more options,” she said in talking about the guest worker visa program. She also pointed out that there are foreign workers ready to come work in agriculture, but the current system does not give farmers or workers the flexibility needed to fill farm jobs.

Rosella encourages farmers who are thinking about advocating for agriculture to dive right in.

“Opportunity for advocacy is alive and well and much-needed in agriculture,” she said. Further, she reminded her fellow agriculturists that it’s important to “fine tune our dialogue, go on the offense and remind people that cities are not natural and that farmers and ranchers are invaluable to the existence of society.”