We are finally making some real progress in recognizing women are an integral part of agricultural operations. The latest Ag Census, just released, shows that of principal operators on our farms, 29.13 percent are women. This is a big increase over the last census.
The main reason is that the data elements collected this time covered both males and females. The census collected data on “who does what on the farm” for up to four operators, starting with day-to-day decisions; land use and/or crop decisions; livestock decisions; record keeping and/or financial management; and estate planning or succession planning.
Almost 78 percent of all female producers nationally indicated that they participated in the day-to-day decision making for their farming operations. Here in Jasper County, there were 1,306 total principal producers with a breakdown of 955 male to 351 female producers, roughly men and women.
This is useful information, notably for media marketing purposes as we clearly see how our farm magazines have changed. We can take away from the data women are seriously involved in agriculture and being recognized for it. Gone are the days when my own mother got up at 5 a.m. to put the milk machines together and feed the cows before she woke my dad to start milking. She was never acknowledged or paid for her farm contributions. Our farm was like most farms of the time, a father/son operation. Today’s women are being counted and marketed to and many even paid and that is a “good” thing. The “goodness” goes way beyond just counting the women on the farm; it is an acknowledgment of the actual contributions of the women.
Women matter, not only in their own operations, but also to other women across the country. The more we see each other publicly, the more we have role models and can encourage others, our children and grandchildren to see expanded opportunities in agriculture.
As Michelle Bufkin stated in Ag Daily, on April 11, “(t)o summarize the data reported in the 2017 census in one word as it relates to women in agriculture: more.” (emphasis added.) More women as principal producers are sharing and carrying responsibilities in the daily operations whether it is in deciding on crops to plant/program decisions, breeding decisions, future planning, etc. More women are on the front line in agriculture operations and are now actually being counted. Yes, this is a good thing.
Beverly Clark
Baxter