Barbara Bonner-Stephens and the Menace of Feral Hogs: Agricultural Technology and Entrepreneurship

It was a random conversation that transformed Barbara Bonner-Stephens into a tech entrepreneur. While once she was in the position to help innovators, now she can join their ranks while also helping people mitigate the damage caused by feral hogs. While many might think of tech entrepreneurship as software development or computer hardware, innovations in agriculture are heavily focused on developing and implementing technology. They affect us on fundamental levels, from the things we eat, the crops we produce, and the environment that sustains us. Feral hogs can threaten all of this, but not if Bonner-Stephens gets her way.

TECH MEETUP EVENT RECAP

What Happened?

On Thursday, September 7^th, Ada Jobs Foundation’s Conduit Initiative held the first Ada Technology Community Meetup event. The event featured an opportunity for people with professional experience or a personal interest in technology to network across fields and learn about current work and projects.

Why this Matters:

This community is central to creating a technology startup ecosystem in the region of Ada as well as Southern Oklahoma. While Ada has local technology jobs and employers, many of the people working in this area do not have an existing opportunity to come together. Many of Ada’s technology professionals have diverse experience, from Computer Programming to Cyber Security, IT Support, Data Analytics, Geographic Information Systems, Digital Design, and much more. This event can help leverage our local talent, build on synergies, and create a resource for our regional technology entrepreneurs. This is especially important in rural Oklahoma, where ready-made opportunities for networking and industry-focused events do not exist at this time.

Increasing Wages

The Average Annual Wage for all industries in Pontotoc County increased to $52,492 in 2022, according to the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is a 6% increase over the average annual wage from 2021, and a 53% increase over the decade from the average annual wage of $34,111 in 2012.

Catching Up to the State of Oklahoma

This increase is significant because Pontotoc County has historically had a wage much lower than the average annual wage for the entire state of Oklahoma. In 2012, the Pontotoc County average wage of $34,111 was 22% lower than the Oklahoma average wage of $41,633 for all industries. In 2022, the gap closed to Pontotoc County being just 2.9% behind the Oklahoma average wage of $53,992.

Slow Data

The Quarterly Census is an important source of public data for our local economy. The wage data is primarily sourced from quarterly tax and unemployment insurance reporting by employers in Pontotoc County. As such, it tends to fairly accurately represent what people working in our county are paid each year. However, it tends to be a little slower to publish than public labor force data which is primarily survey-based. We use this data to better understand our local employers' long-term trends, which allows us to better target our economic development programs to help these employers expand and grow.

Ada Jobs Foundation

580-235-0070

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