She's queen of the farm

Date: Sat 23-Oct-1993
Paper Page: 32
Publication: Sun on Saturday

THE BARBADOS farming community likes the idea of honouring young women in agriculture.

So like Jamaica, Barbados could soon have its own National Farm Queen.

That possibility was expressed this week by president of the Barbados Agricultural Society, Keith Laurie, as he introduced Miss Jamaica National Farm Queen to the local media.

Queen Clendene Bryan, a secondary school teacher in Jamaica, is in Barbados on her prize trip sponsored by BWIA. She explained the competition in her homeland is one of the highlights of that country's agricultural calendar.

Bryan was quick to point out that the show is not a beauty pageant, but a unique way to honour young women in agriculture.

"You are tested on such points as knowledge of agriculture, poise, deportment and home economics," Bryan said.

The teacher has her own small farm where she tends cows and plots of peanuts and bananas. She said she has loved the land "from birth".

Surprisingly, she didn't come from a farming family.

As a teenager, she became involved in the Youth In Agriculture Programme and later enrolled in Clarenden College where she studied agricultural science. She later went on to the College of Agriculture in Portland to do an associate degree in agriculture.

Byran is still very active in the Youth In Agriculture programme and has also started a campaign to encourage youth to become involved in farming and see it as something positive.