Dr. LuJean Waters Named Florida’s 2026 Woman of the Year in Agriculture
by SHAYLYNN MARKS
When Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson named Dr. LuJean Waters the 2026 Woman of the Year in Agriculture, the honor reflected decades of hard work and service.
For Waters, a seventh-generation Florida cattle rancher, large-animal veterinarian, and educator, the recognition is deeply personal.
“It means the world to me to be kind of seen by my peers,” Waters says. “It for sure makes me feel good about the work that I’m doing and that I have hopefully made my mark on this world.”
In announcing the honor, Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson said, “Dr. LuJean Waters has dedicated her life to serving Florida agriculture and the people who keep it strong. She understands the responsibility that comes with feeding our state and protecting our agricultural heritage, and she is helping to ensure the next generation is ready to carry that forward.”
Ranch Life
Waters grew up riding horses and spending her days ranching with her family. “When I was a little girl, I didn’t realize how blessed I was,” she says. “To me, I was just stuck working cows.”
Looking back, she sees those years differently.
“What an opportunity, and what an amazing childhood that I had,” she says now. “That was something that most people only read about in books or see in movies, and I got a chance to live it.” Those years gave her a work ethic that would later define her career.
An Early Calling
Waters knew early that she wanted to become a veterinarian. She still remembers the day a veterinarian came to work cattle on her family’s operation.
“She told me he gets paid to come and take care of animals — make sure that they’re healthy,” Waters says, recalling what her mother explained. “And I was like, ‘Well, I want to do that,’ and I kind of never changed my mind.”
As she got older, Waters understood what it would take to make a place for herself in the industry she loved.
“I quickly realized that there may not be a place for me as a female in this industry,” she says. “If I wanted to make this my career and be very successful at it, I was probably going to have to go get a veterinary degree and have upper-level education to be on the same playing field with the guys that had been doing it their whole life.”
That mindset still shapes the advice she gives young women entering agriculture.
“Don’t look at it as women in ag,” she says. “Just look at it as, I’m going to make myself be seen.”
She tells students to stop waiting for permission and take ownership of their path.
“If that takes you working twice as hard, do it,” she says. “If that takes you studying twice as much so that you’re more prepared than everybody else that’s there the next morning, do it.”
Daily Demands
Waters owns Heartland Large Animal Services, a large-animal veterinary practice serving livestock producers across Central Florida. The work is demanding in ways many people never see.
“I have, at times, went months without a day off, and that’s what it took to get myself to the level that I am today,” she says.“You just have to love it.”
“If you want to see the sunrise from the back of a horse, or you want to deliver a calf and see them take their first breath, nothing feeds your soul like those moments,” Waters says. “Those first breaths are what God put me on this earth to see.”
Claiming Space
Waters has held leadership roles with the Florida Cattlemen’s Association Animal Health Committee, the Florida Beef Council, and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Board.
“When there were opportunities for leadership roles, I paid for myself to go to those meetings,” Waters says. “I paid for my hotel room, my own food. I took the time off work. I paid for my gas to get there — paid the membership, and I showed up at the table and had a voice,” she says. “After they saw me continually showing up, that’s when I was accepted.”
She later became the first female president of the Polk County Cattlemen’s Association.
“It did not come easy, for sure,” Waters says. “There were lots of tears shed and lots and lots of setbacks for years of trying to get my foot in the door and not being successful, and I just kept pushing.”
She says the goal was never to get attention; she wanted to serve in the part of the industry that best matched her strengths. While the Cattlewomen’s work matters, Waters said her own expertise was in herd health, palpating, semen testing, and the genetic side of cattle production.
“I just wanted to be the best person that I could be within a leadership role,” she says. “It wasn’t under the Cattlewomen’s Association, because that wasn’t where my expertise was.”
Teaching the Next Generation
Waters teaches animal science and beef cattle production courses at Warner University, where mentoring students has become one of the most meaningful parts of her career. For Waters, success in the classroom is measured in the moments that stay with students.
“If one person remembers something that I taught them, or got to meet an animal for the first time that really touched them or made a difference in how they live their lives, then that is all the pay I need,” she says.
Still Spurring Onward
Waters continues to improve the genetics of her family’s herd and expand her teaching reach. Her father’s words still guide her when the work feels heavy.
“When everybody else pulls back on the reins, start spurring,” Waters says.
