Do not be fooled by her diminutive stature. Carol Thompson is a young, confident livestock farmer who is determined to go as far as she can in the agriculture business.
She currently owns and rears three cows and two bulls at her Apple Hall, St Phillip residence. Thompson also works at Kendal Plantation, St John, caring for pigs, sheep and other animals.
The 32-year-old told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that she spent most of her younger years helping on her parents’ food-crop farm and that influenced her decision to become involved professionally in farming after secondary school.
“My mum used to work at the Sam Lord’s Castle all the time I was growing up, but she used to farm at home as well. She would sell the produce to the Sam Lord’s Castle kitchen and my grandmother was into that as well. She had a shop and would also go to town and sell. So I came up in the fields and on the pasture so it was always in me,” she said.
“When I finished secondary school I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. I got into [farming] through a guy who was a tractor operator. He was ploughing some land for my mum to plant and after that he taught me how to operate it,” said the former Combermere student.
Thompson attended the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic where she completed the three-year husbandry programme. She was later granted a scholarship, through the Caribbean Development Bank, to study at the Simon Bolivar United World College of Agriculture. Thompson studied farm administration.
Upon her return to Barbados, the agriculture lover ventured into farming full-time in late 2003, taking care of animals on the Cousin Hill farm, St Phillip, and after a few years she left that job and took up her current post.
Thompson was fortunate in forming a partnership with Pinnacle Feeds Limited, a member of the Roberts group of companies. The company sponsors farmers for Agrofest held annually in February and assists them in attending shows overseas.
“My partnership with them is a part of their campaign. It is really good that they are partnering with us small farmers,” she said.
The young entrepreneur said farming provided her with an adequate and stable income and she was quite comfortable in what was traditionally a man’s world.
“It all depends on the level at which you are doing it because if you are into farming professionally, you would have a stable income, but if you are providing just for yourself then that would be just for you to eat. But there is always a market for food. I am proud, pretty proud to know that I can be here and be accepted. And it is working out pretty good for me,” Thompson said confidently.