Women, race and place in US Agriculture

Abstract

Research on women in U.S. agriculture highlights how, despite real challenges, women have made and continue to make spaces for themselves in this male-dominated profession. We argue that, partly due to data accessibility limitations, this work has tended to use white women’s experiences in agriculture as universal. Analyzing micro-data from the 2017 Census of Agriculture, this paper offers descriptive statistics about women and race in U.S. agriculture. We examine numerous characteristics of U.S. farms, including their spatial distribution, the average number of acres farmed, predominant crop types, and other characteristics to describe how white, Black, Indigenous, and Pacific Islander/Asian women farmers are faring. Our findings suggest significant differences in women’s farms by race. We argue that these are related to the history of forced and voluntary migration within the U.S. Our results indicate that understanding women’s experiences in farming requires understanding the impact of race and these broader historical patterns. Finally, because of these differences across races, we suggest that supporting “women in agriculture” may require tailored responses from agricultural policy and programming that addresses unique needs in specific communities.

A Fair Comparison: Women's and Men's Farms at Seven Scales in the United States☆

“…Their access to farm resources and engagement in different types of farming-and this farm scales-vary significantly by race, and likely by other factors such as socio-economic class (ex. Pilgeram 2011;Pilgeram et al 2022).…”

“…Still, regardless of changes in methodology, it has been estimated that the overall percentage of women farm operators has steadily increased (Ball 2020; Hoppe 2010), especially in the alternative agriculture sector (Ferrell 2012; Peter et al 2000). Horst and Marion (2019) report that the 1920 CoA found 4 percent of farm owner‐operators to be women, compared to current estimates ranging from 19 percent to 36 percent (depending on how they are counted; see Pilgeram, Dentzman, and Lewin 2022). To compare 2017 data more accurately with previous years, we can also look at the percentage of women listed as Farmer 1—assuming that this represents who would have been recorded if only one farmer were reported per farm.…”

“…Horst and Marion (2019) provide an excellent overview of historical and structural barriers faced by women, Hispanic, and non‐white farmers. Historically, women have been denied land ownership and inheritance, faced discriminatory lending practices, and missed out on subsidies, with women of color even more disadvantaged (Horst and Marion 2019; Pilgeram et al 2022). These patterns of discrimination have had long‐lasting consequences such that Horst and Marion conclude that, overall, “American agriculture has made little progress on racial, ethnic, or gender equity over the past 100 years” (2019:11).…”

“…Additionally, research has tended to emphasize that women are more likely than men to be involved in alternative agriculture but rarely addresses the proportion of women actually engaged in these systems. Pilgeram et al (2022) report that, in the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture, just 1.81 percent of women primary farmers are engaged in any type of organic farming. While this is statistically significantly more than men, it is still an extremely small proportion.…”

Women farmers and community well‐being under modeling uncertainty

“…Some authors have argued that women working in value-added production and tourism reinforce the traditional gendered role of agriculture and typical "women's work" (Garcia-Ramon et al, 1995;Wright & Annes, 2016). Pilgeram et al (2022) highlight that current research frequently draws upon the experiences of white women in agriculture, potentially failing to capture the diversity of women in agriculture accurately. The author's microdata analysis of the 2017 agricultural census found inequalities among woman farmers that can be attributed to racial differences, and they call for the inclusion of race and the acknowledgment of historical patterns when analyzing and developing policy recommendations and programming to support women in agriculture in the U.S.A.…”