April 2021 - 4

EDITOR'S LETTER
Women carve ag niche
While women can be drawn into farming for many reasons, researchers in
Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have found that female-owned
farms in the U.S. are more common in areas that are closer to urban markets,
that engage in agritourism activity and that offer greater access to childcare.
The number of farms operated by women
has risen over the past two decades, said
Claudia Schmidt, assistant professor of
marketing and local/regional food systems.
The USDA changed the way it counts the
operators of farms in its most recent Census
of Agriculture, allowing for up to four
principal operators per farm. This has inflated
the number of female operators somewhat,
but female participation in agriculture is
nonetheless at an all-time high, said Schmidt.
" This type of research is needed not just
for reasons of equity, but also to support a
more diverse and resilient agricultural sector in
Gary Pullano
Editor
general, " said Schmidt. " Without knowing more about female farm-operators'
decision making, agricultural service providers have had to make assumptions
about the type of information and products that are useful to them. Our
analysis shows some of the ways in which female-owned farms are unique, and
it can offer important insights into how best to serve this population. "
The researchers' goal was to shed light on aspects of the local economic and
agricultural ecosystems that are most strongly associated with female-owned
farms.
The researchers identified 10 economic variables hypothesized to matter,
including unemployment, non-farm wages, availability of childcare and the
rate of female participation in the labor force. They also examined the total
number of farms, average farm size and annual sales, average farmer age,
and the types of farm activities carried out.
" We wanted to understand why women are drawn to farming, " said Stephan
Goetz, professor of agricultural and regional economics and director of the
Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development (NERCRD). " Is it because
they want to engage in this kind of work, or is it because they are pushed into
farming due to a lack of other economic opportunities locally? We also wanted
to examine how local agricultural conditions - what farming generally looks
like in a given place - relate to women's participation in agriculture. "
The analysis, which was recently published in Food Policy, shows that more
female-owned farms are found where average farm size is below 50 acres,
where annual farm sales average less than $10,000 per farm, where more farms
specialize in grazing sheep or goats and where agritourism activities - which
attract visitors to farms - are more common.
Urban areas with high population densities have more female-owned farms
than more rural areas do, said Goetz.
" Our findings suggest that females are more likely to engage in the type of
farming that benefits from being in or near urban locations, " said Goetz. " In
addition to offering more opportunities to market directly to consumers, urban
and suburban locations also offer greater access to childcare than rural areas,
and our research showed the availability of childcare is correlated with the
number of female-owned farms in a county. "
The researchers also noted that the share of farms with female operators is
higher in counties with a greater total number of farms, which could reflect
increased opportunities for networking and learning through knowledgesharing
networks.
" Our research suggests that female-owned farms are more common in certain
economic and agricultural ecosystems, " Schmidt said. " Therefore, they likely
have different needs in terms of education and support, and this research is an
important step in identifying these differences. "
Among other questions, future research will look at the impact of female-owned
farms on local economic and agricultural conditions.
Zheng Tian, a research associate at the NERCRD, also contributed to this research,
which represents a valuable perspective on the role of women in the industry.
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In 2019 California's farms and ranches received
more than $50 billion in cash receipts for
their output. This represents a slight increase
over reported cash receipts compared to the
previous year.
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So far, there are few silver linings related
to the winter storm system that brought
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Horticulture scholarship honors professional tie,
friendship
Peach and pecan producer Al Pearson relied
on the expert advice provided by University
of Georgia Cooperative Extension, including
the counsel provided by Extension peach
expert Maurice E. " Butch " Ferree. Pearson has
established a scholarship in Ferree's name to
support students majoring in horticulture in
honor of Ferree.
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April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2021
