Women in Business Month
Women in Business Month
March is Women’s History month and we have been paying tribute to the generations of women who changed our world with their advocacy and strength since the creation of Women in Business Month back in 1987. This month, Alstede Farms, will be recognizing women who shaped, or are shaping our future in wonderful ways starting… Read More »
March is Women’s History month and we have been paying tribute to the generations of women who changed our world with their advocacy and strength since the creation of Women in Business Month back in 1987.
This month, Alstede Farms, will be recognizing women who shaped, or are shaping our future in wonderful ways starting with Elizabeth Coleman White. Elizabeth was born in 1871 in New Lisbon, NJ and was the oldest of four daughters. Elizabeth worked for her parents on a 600-acre cranberry farm. While supervising cranberry pickers in the bogs she continued her education at Drexel Institute of Art (now Drexel University). While out in the cranberry farm she took interest in wild blueberry bushes that popped up in the sandy soil of the Pine Barrens. After studying them for some time she partnered up with Dr. Frederick Coville, a USDA Botanist to cultivate the first batch of domesticated blueberries. Elizabeth worked to domesticate blueberries which would turn this crop into a worldwide industry. She planted blueberries on her father’s cranberry farm as a complimentary planting as blueberries ripened in July and would not interfere with the September cranberry harvest.
Elizabeth became the first woman member of the American Cranberry Association and was the first woman to receive a citation from the
New Jersey Department of Agriculture for her contributions. She also was noted as an organizer of the New Jersey Blueberry Cooperative Association which is an co-op formed to recognize and ensure the quality and consistency of blueberries with recognition to preservation of the environment.
An innovator and farmer and native New Jerseyan, Elizabeth Coleman White, was a significant woman in history and as a blueberry farmer in NJ we pay tribute and are appreciative of her work and dedication to the farming industry. The next time you bite into a delicious blueberry in the Summer you have Elizabeth to thank!
