Table Of Contentpreface i
The Rise of Women faRmeRs and susTainable agRiculTuRe
ii preface
preface iii
The Rise of Women farmers
and sustainable agriculture
Carolyn E. Sachs, Mary E. Barbercheck, Kathryn J. Brasier,
Nancy Ellen Kiernan, and Anna Rachel Terman
UNivERSiTy of iowA PRESS, iowA CiTy
iv preface
University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 52242
Copyright © 2016 by the University of Iowa Press
www.uiowapress.org
Printed in the United States of America
Design by Teresa W. Wingfield
No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means
without permission in writing from the publisher. All reasonable steps have
been taken to contact copyright holders of material used in this book. The
publisher would be pleased to make suitable arrangements with any whom it
has not been possible to reach.
The University of Iowa Press is a member of Green Press Initiative and is
committed to preserving natural resources.
Printed on acid-free paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sachs, Carolyn E., 1950– author.
The rise of women farmers and sustainable agriculture / Carolyn E. Sachs,
Mary E. Barbercheck, Kathryn J. Brasier, Nancy Ellen Kiernan, and Anna
Rachel Terman.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-60938-415-9 (pbk), ISBN 978-1-60938-416-6 (ebk) 1. Women
farmers. 2. Sustainable agriculture. I. Title.
HD6077.S23 2016
338.1082—dc23 2015033642
preface v
conTenTs
Preface Planting a Seed vii
1. A New Crop: Women Farmers in a Changing Agriculture 1
2. Tilling the Soil for Change: Claiming the Farmer Identity 30
3. Sowing the Seeds of Change: Innovative Paths to Land, Labor,
and Capital 50
4. Reaping a New Harvest: Women Farmers Redefining Agriculture,
Community, and Sustainability 64
5. Constructing a New Table: Women Farmers Negotiate Agricultural
Institutions and Organizations, Creating New Agricultural
Networks 95
6. From the Ground Up: A Feminist Agrifood Systems Theory 140
Appendix Methodology and Data Collection: Linking Research
to Pedagogy, Action, and Policy 149
Funding Sources 161
Notes 163
Bibliography 171
Index 185
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preface vii
PReface Planting a seed
Our first step in this journey began in the living room of a woman’s
farmhouse in Pennsylvania, where a group of women, which included farm-
ers, educators, scientists, agriculture service providers involved in various
aspects of sustainable agriculture, and several authors of this book, dis-
cussed the needs, possibilities, and challenges of women involved in agri-
culture. The energy in the room that day was electric—full of power, confi-
dence, ideas, frustrations, dreams, and visions. We shared stories, laughed
together, and exchanged practical information about an endless array of top-
ics: extending the growing season for vegetables, raising grass-fed livestock
and poultry, dealing with agriculture salesmen, and changing the world.
Most of all, everyone present experienced the euphoria of spending a few
hours sharing our stories with other women farmers and our supporters,
and we were ready for more.
At about the same time, several of the authors worked with women’s agri-
cultural networks in Vermont and Maine to plan the first national Women
in Sustainable Agriculture Conference. More than twenty women, mostly
farmers and several academics (and one baby), filled two maxi-vans to make
the twelve-hour drive from Pennsylvania to Vermont. This was no boring
road trip, but rather a spirit-filled adventure and intense time of sharing sto-
ries, giving advice, and making long-term connections. The conversations in
the vans were stimulating, entertaining, and virtually nonstop. We all learned
a great deal both at the conference and on tours of Vermont farms led by
local women farmers. The Pennsylvania contingent of farmers decided to
hold the next Women in Sustainable Agriculture Conference in Pennsylva-
nia. As we crossed the mountains on our way home, we came upon a field
where multiple flocks of snow geese majestically gathered for a meal before
flying south. Coincidently, we had just heard a talk at the conference from
viii preface
wiSA Conference Participants: Ann Stone, Maggie and Claire Robertson, Mary Cottone, Maryann fra-
zier, Amber Lockawich, Susan Alexander, Carolyn Sachs, Sandy Miller, Gabbriel frigm, Barb Kline, Emily
Cooke, Lyn Garling, Linda Moist, Clair orner. Photograph by PA-wAgN staff.
Cherokee activist Pamela Kingfisher about how leaders in her tribe rotated
much like the geese: when the lead goose tires, another goose seamlessly
flies into the lead, then the next, and the next. At the very beginning of our
new journey together, the women farmers in the vans decided we would
lead like geese to reach our desired futures.
Inspired by these two experiences, this book captures the energy, vision,
struggles, and successes of women farmers engaged in sustainable farming.
Over the course of ten years, the authors of this book collaborated, cooper-
ated, and engaged with women farmers to accomplish many actions: form
a vibrant network, research the challenges and opportunities for women
farmers, facilitate farmer-led educational programs, meet women farmers
from other regions and countries, support each other in our efforts, and
learn from each other as we try to create a more environmentally sound,
economically viable, and socially just food and agriculture system.
preface ix
Through our work with women farmers, several of the authors of this
book formed a research and outreach team to understand the barriers and
opportunities of women farmers and to build an educational program
based on our research findings to meet their needs. We started doing the
research reported in this book for very practical reasons—to see what
information, resources, and activities women farmers needed to succeed.
Over time, we wove together research, networking, and educational pro-
grams for women farmers while contributing to academic conversations
on gender and agriculture. As researchers, we all are currently, or were pre-
viously, faculty members and graduate students in land-grant universities
in colleges of agriculture. Even though serving the needs of agriculture is
at the foundation of the land-grant mission, we have been challenged by
those beholden to a traditional view of farming because of our research
and outreach with women in sustainable farming. We have been asked mul-
tiple times why we focus on women farmers and if they are really farm-
ers. One would expect that in an academic setting, in an era of diversity
training, institutional civil rights reviews, and general political correctness
around the issue of diversity, we would have progressed beyond the need to
explain women’s contributions to agriculture or any profession perceived
as the traditional province of men. Unfortunately, this is not the case, and
even among our agricultural colleagues, women farmers are still “invisible”
(Sachs 1996). Hence, we are continually reminded of the need to learn of
the challenges and achievements of these women and the need to help them
communicate these challenges and achievements to others so that they can
be appreciated, recognized, and acted upon. Given the practical foundation
of our research and our commitment to advocating for women farmers,
this book reflects a feminist praxis rooted in values of equality and justice
in agrifood systems.
This book tells the stories of the women farmers who continually inspire
us with their creativity, commitment, and generosity of spirit. We tell
their stories through their voices while, at the same time, contributing to
scholarship on gender and agriculture and proposing a feminist agrifood
systems theory (FAST). Our ultimate goal is to facilitate social and insti-
tutional change toward a more socially just agriculture and food system,
and this book is one of our contributions toward that goal. We present the
broad social and institutional contexts related to gender and agriculture in
