Women Farmers.

Do women farmers need mentors?  Should women farmers be mentors?  These were questions I asked myself as I prepared to participate in a one-day session organized by the Women’s Agricultural Network, a group organized and initiated by Penn State a few years ago.  The location of this educational session was the Rodale Institute, a site where innovative ideas involving agriculture have been contemplated for decades.

As I drove up to the Rodale experiment farm with its renovated barn whose second-floor was converted into a classroom setting, I was pleasantly surprised to see a barn full of interested women, and a few men.  Several agriculturally-related organizations were on hand to support this learning session which included a tour of the Rodale experiment plots and gardens.

I was enjoying the day, asking questions, and dialoguing with other participants.  I was intrigued by the hairy vetch cover crop that is incorporated into Rodale’s crop management techniques.  I was curious about the spring wheat strips that were greening up nicely, despite the cooler, wetter weather we’ve been experiencing in Berks County.  It surprised me to find this crop growing in Pennsylvania soils since I had been taught that this was a Midwestern hard red wheat crop during my college years.  Spring oats and winter rye, wheat and barley are the norm in this part of the United States.  It will be exciting to watch the results of this agronomic experiment and its application for Pennsylvania farmers.

I absorbed new information about composting, and tried to memorize what the speaker was sharing as the recipe for success for recycling ingredients to make this soil amendment.  Greens and browns, water, and even layers --- I was glad there was a handout so I didn’t have to commit all of this information to memory.  I was learning new things, and if felt good.  I knew I would be able to share this with others in the future.  Stretching the mind is good exercise, no matter how long you’ve been farming, no matter what your gender.  As an agricultural coordinator, sharing information is all part of my job.

What does it mean to be a mentor?  One definition for mentor is a wise and trusted counselor or teacher.  Another is an influential senior sponsor or supporter.  Through the Women’s Agricultural Network, women of all levels of experience can learn from one another.  This organization helps to bring women of diverse expertise together in order to farm more successfully.  Some are women farmers whose husbands have died; others are single women who are jumping into the field of agriculture with enthusiasm and energy.  Traditional agriculturalists, organic farmers, and those who combine both viewpoints on their farms, come together to network and exchange news and information.

My comments to the group reflected my personal experience growing up in a farm family with two daughters and no sons.  I explained that my parents never discriminated when it came to the hard work of farming.  Greasy and calloused hands were not gender specific or linked to the Y chromosome in our family.  As far as my Dad was concerned, my sister and I were just one of the boys!  We were asked to do jobs as farm kids, with no excuses accepted just because we were girls.  It was an enlightened attitude for the 1960s, and one that needs to continue in the 21st century.

As I pointed out in my remarks to the group, women need to talk with one another and not assume that everyone knows everything about farming.  Just as I had learned new concepts earlier in the day, other women might benefit from the knowledge I could share.  We talked about the need to ensure young people, both male and female, have the opportunity to study agriculture in their secondary educations.  This will provide the basis they need for future careers in the industry.  I applauded one of the conference participants for bringing her two young daughters to the event.  While they might have only understood it as a fun day to ride on wagons and romp around a garden path or roll down the sloping bank barn hill, it was a great start to their potential future in the food industry.  Young minds absorb more than we realize.

My role in agriculture has taken many turns over its course.  As the first woman hired by the USDA’s Soil Conservation Service back in the 1970s, to my job as Lancaster Farming’s editor, to my quarter century in the state capitol, I hope that I have helped other women aspire to careers in agriculture or to take on the challenge of farming.  I have had many mentors in my life, whether family, teachers or friends, who have given me the courage to farm.  Giving some of that confidence back to others is a small gift for everything I have received from my role models throughout life.

To all women in agriculture, remember that, no matter what path you are following toward a dream or goal, always stay the course even if it feels like you are getting no where.  Hard work, common sense, involvement and commitment to agriculture --- our number one industry --- whether at the farm gate, farm house, or in House of Representatives, are assets women bring to the job of feeding the world.
 

 
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