Etaferahu Takele (middle) with her younger sisters dressed in traditional Ethiopian attire. Photo by Etaferahu Takele.

Growing up in Ethiopia, Etaferahu Takele was faced with a dilemma: School or marriage? Those were the choices Takele's father gave her when she was 13 years old. Takele, UC Cooperative Extension farm management and agricultural economics advisor for Southern California, said her ultimate choice changed the trajectory of her life.

Takele has made a career of researching how farm products and farming practices translate into profitability for farmers. She works closely with UCCE farm advisors, helping them understand the factors that affect the economics of crop production, and enabling them to better support growers in the area.

Throughout her career, she has published many cost studies for growers that focus on crops like vegetables, citrus and avocados. In her role, she also analyzes new crop economics and potential profitability, and compares profitability and cost to alternative production practices.

In Ethiopia, it is common and expected for young women to marry before high school, sacrificing the opportunity to continue their education. Takele's father let his oldest daughter decide what her next steps would be. “I want to go to school,” Takele told him.

Takele was the only female student in her elementary school classes. Similarly, she was the only female graduate student when she began her studies at North Dakota State University.

“It was funny,” Takele said. “I remember in graduate school, the department chair wanted to introduce me to the rest of the students, and he took me upstairs. The students were surprised to see me. They were waiting for a man, and probably a white one.”

Takele was born in Dessie, about 250 miles north of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, but was raised in the country in a village called Kutaber. In addition to her father's business as a farmer, a visit to an agricultural school stimulated her interest in agriculture.

“I saw the milking of the cows and all the technology, and it was really fascinating,” said Takele, who also helped her father with accounting for his farm, which sparked her interest in the business side of agriculture.

In 1981, immediately following graduation from North Dakota State University with her master's degree in agricultural economics, Takele joined UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. “I'm one of the old timers,” she said.

“Extension was organized differently at the time that I started. Cooperative Extension was a separate unit with its own academics organized by discipline,” said Takele. “There weren't any women in the agricultural economics unit of Cooperative Extension at that time. I was the only one, until another woman, Karen Klonsky, joined six months later.”

Aside from her love for numbers, Takele says she truly enjoys the extension part of her job. “I like the applied aspect because I get to see my research and analysis help growers make profitable farm management decisions,” she explained.

Thirteen years into her career with UC ANR, Takele earned a master's degree in economics from UC Riverside. In 2008, Takele graduated from the prestigious California Agricultural Leadership Program, and served as UCCE director for Riverside County from 2007 to 2020.

With many years of UC ANR service, and counting, Takele said that being a role model to her siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews, is her driving force.

“In my culture, there is an obligation to help those that come after you,” she said. Aligned with this value is her desire to open opportunities, just like her father did for her. “I have always been focused,” Takele said. “And it all started with that choice he gave me.”