Farming wasn’t Traci Barkley’s first choice for a career. After earning a bachelor’s degree in ethology, ecology and evolution and a master’s degree in natural resources and environmental sciences from the University of Illinois, she spent two years as an Americorps volunteer training citizen scientists to collect data on the state’s threatened streams, forests, wetlands and prairies for rapid assessment of environmental health by state scientists.
For 20 years, Barkley built her career as a freshwater ecologist, bridging science and policy for organizations like Prairie Rivers Network and the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. She was passionate about the work, but after a while, started to “get a little itchy.”
Around the same time Barkley heard of a 4-acre community farm started by the ministry of St. Matthew Lutheran Church in Urbana. Sola Gratia had started its second year and had a mission to feed the community, which aligned with Barkley’s values.
“I believe strongly in the mission and wanted to be a part of it,” she says. Barkley approached the church’s board of directors and says she “saw an opportunity to do more.” The church hired her as one of two staff members after that encounter. “I completely switched careers and never looked back,” she says.
Barkley now serves as the director of Sola Gratia. It turned out the switch from water to food was an easy one for her. The Iowa native grew up on her family’s farm where she watched her great-grandparents, grandparents and parents live off the land.
“I learned a lot from my grandparents and my parents of just what that means to provide for yourself and then share with others,” she says.
She also witnessed the critical roles her grandmothers played on the farm. It’s a vision that inspired her throughout her career.
“Working in ecology and fisheries and now agriculture, I’ve always worked in a male-dominated environment. And I think representation is really, really important,” she says. “Even though the farmer has almost always identified as the man in the family, I look back to my grandmas and they were farmers. I think often women don’t get the recognition or acknowledgments as farmers.”
VIDEO: Meet Traci Barkley, director of Sola Gratia Farm near Urbana.
It’s been a full-circle moment to watch the face of agriculture change and more women like herself step into leadership roles. For women pursuing a career in the ag sector, Barkley believes the “sky is the limit.”
“The field of agriculture is a lot broader than what people think. When people think of farming, they think of huge combines and massive monocrop operations, but there are so many opportunities, whether it’s in the greenhouse industry or the specialty crop industry, or you know, biotechnology or flower farming, there’s a lot of possibility in the field of ag right now,” she says.
Coming to work every day and knowing she’s helping make a difference means “everything” to Barkley. She believes focusing closer to home, “closer in our community,” keeps her grounded. It’s what reminds her the career switch was more than worth it.
“We had a volunteer orientation and we had 30-plus people in the room, and one of the folks that was coming to volunteer came because she has been served by us,” she shares. “It’s moving to meet someone who has benefited from our hard work and then comes back to contribute at the same time.”
That’s the beauty of Sola Gratia, according to Barkley. She sees the same beauty in her personal life.
“I have two children and I’m hoping to raise kind people that contribute to make the world a better place.”
This content is part of the Partners 2023 Cultivating Our Communities series, a collaboration among Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Specialty Growers Association. It strives to raise awareness of Illinois’ diverse farmers, farms, and the food, feed and fuel they produce.
See more: Centering on Healthful Food and Wellness
