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Farming
is Not Just for Guys |
Women are increasingly the decision makers and principal operators on the farm, according to the USDA’s 2002 Census of Agriculture. The full report is not due until June, but a preliminary report shows that across the country, and within this region (Midatlantic), more women are running the farm. Nationally the number of women as “principal operators” is now more than 7%. This is an increase of nearly 13% since 1997, the last year of the Agricultural Census, with the number female principal operators growing from 209,784 to 235,269. Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia all saw increases in the number of women as the primary decision makers on the farm. Virginia and Maryland both reported a 17% jump in the number of women as principal operators over the five year period. In Virginia the numbers increased from5,775 to 6,769, and in Maryland the numbers went up from 1,642 to 1,893. West Virginia reported a 10% increase in the number of women in charge of farm operations from 2,095 to 2,310. Nationally women operators are more often identified as “second and third operators” on a farm-the census found that among this population nearly 63% are women. Why are operations run by women one of the few growth trends in U.S. agriculture? An article researched by the Washington Post found that in recent decades farm wives “have increasingly been involved in day to day decisions about land. Crops, livestock and equipment” and are taking over operations while their husbands work off the-farm, or are outliving husbands, assuming their duties in the fields and barns.” Other women are taking over after a divorce, inheriting farms from parents, or are switching careers to farm. Women are also the largest and fastest-growing group of small farm buyers, according to the Post’s sources. Agricultural experts, they said, predict that a majority of U.S. farmland will be owned and operated by women within the next two decades. Sources 2002 Census of Agriculture, USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service and the Washington Post, May 20 2003 |