UWRF students compete together, become fast friends

RIVER FALLS – UW-River Falls students Greta Weix and Emilie Berner didn’t know each other prior to competing in the 2023 Northern Midwest Miss United States Agriculture Pageant, but now they are good friends as they cheer each other on to the national competition.

Berner, a freshman agriculture education major with a business minor, represented Brown County, Wis. in the pageant. She grew up in West DePere, a suburb of Green Bay. She competed in the Miss United States Agriculture division, which is for women ages 17-21, and was chosen by a panel of judges to carry the title.

Weix, a senior agriculture education major with an equine minor, represented Pierce County and was selected as Wisconsin’s Ms. United States Agriculture (for unmarried women ages 22-35).

The goal of the program is for participants to advocate for agriculture by using the crown and sash as ways to start conversations. The program began in 2014 with a goal of sharing American agriculture stories.

Weix learned of the pageant program when she saw an ad. She applied through a photo essay contest last year in which she had to explain whey she wanted to be in the Miss US Ag program and what she planned to do with her ag degree.

Berner was working at Cabela’s near her hometown when she saw a woman wearing a Miss US Agriculture belt buckle. She was intrigued.

“I’m all for different ways of advocating for agriculture, so I thought it was interesting,” Berner said. “I spoke to the Wisconsin director. It’s a unique opportunity not many people know about. I filled out a form and wrote about why I wanted to do it.”

Their role is to go to different agriculture-related events in their counties representing the program. This year, Weix attended UWRF’s Ag Day, Ellsworth Cheese Curd Festival, the Pierce County Fair and different horse competitions. She has networked with Alice in Dairyland, Princess Kay of the Milky Way, Fairest of the Fair and talked about agriculture and industries with students.

Usually registration for the next competition year starts in December (right now applicants can apply to compete for the 2024 titles), but Berner started in late June. As state queens, they are trying to do as many interviews and events as possible, which helps in scoring for the national competition.

This was the first pageant each woman had participated in, though Berner laughed that they’ve watched a lot of “Toddlers and Tiaras.” At the state pageant, held Dec. 3 in Faribault, Minn., both women competed in interviews, questions, formal wear, on stage introduction, essays and state fun fashion categories. For the state fun fashion, Weix dressed up as a cranberry farmer while her service dog was a cranberry. Berner dressed up as a strawberry, when she learned that the fruit was the main agricultural product grown in Wisconsin.

“I used to pick strawberries with my family,” Berner said. “My grandparents would make all the pies.”

Both women agreed the contestants were all “super nice.” There were 11 total.

“I would never have met them if I hadn’t participated,” Berner said.

One of the women’s main goals is to get more girls involved, to make it more competitive.

“It’s fun to have competition,” Weix said. “We’re voluntelling people to get involved.”

Women can take part in the competitions for free – but not without hard work, Berner said. This includes fundraising and asking businesses for sponsorships. The crown and sash at the county level is $100; at state, the cost is $250; and at nationals, $500 or more must be raised.

“Theoretically you can do it for free, if you work hard,” Berner said. “But that should be part of anything you’re passionate about.”

Each contestant chooses a platform for which to advocate. As half-Native American, Berner is raising awareness about diversity in agriculture.

“It’s not necessarily an issue that’s prohibiting, but could give the agriculture industry more to work with,” Berner said. “I’m half Native American and being able to have that kind of background and making it in the ag industry can be tough when it’s not run by minorities.”

People always assume because of her ag interests, she was raised on a farm. She wasn’t.

“I want to expose the other parts of agriculture, like natural resources, conservation, hunting, fishing, that’s a big part that people don’t necessarily see.”

Berner was big into FFA throughout high school and even ran for state office, though she wasn’t elected.

“It was a big learning experience for me,” she said. “Moving forward, that was kind of a letdown, but finding a different way to advocate for agriculture was a great opportunity. I want to be an ag ed teacher. I love teaching people. I love meeting people.”

Weix’s platform is cow comfort, which is the equitable treatment of cows on dairy farms, or minimizing the stress on an animal in order to maximize productive capability.

“Happy cows give more milk, therefore more profit,” Weix said. “How can we better treat our cows on farms by giving them proper ventilation and nutrition. They provide for us and in turn, we should provide the best life for them.”

Weix grew up in the middle of St. Paul, but she never let living in the city stop her from owning horses or goats and working on farms. She plans to work as a feed sales rep upon graduation.

“I’ve made a lot of different connections for my future career,” Weix said. “I wanted to learn new skills about public speaking and networking. I’ve always been passionate about agriculture, so I thought it would be a good way to get involved in my community.”

It’s not uncommon for children to see her at events and think she’s a princess who lives in a castle, she laughed.

“To teach, inspire advocate. That’s our goal in our community, to do that for agriculture. We will reach a bigger platform,” Weix said.

“Both of us have the thought that, it’s for anyone,” Berner said of the program. “Both of us have a nontraditional ag background. You don’t have to be living on a farm. You have a home here and people will support you.”

Follow the women’s journey as they prepare to compete at nationals July 4-6 in Enterprise, Ala. They can be found on Instagram and Facebook.

To learn more about the program, visit missunitedstatesagriculture.com