Dreamy portraits of America’s forgotten women farmers

January 16, 2018 9:16 AM

"Women Farmers of Appalachia is a photography and interview series whose purpose is to give an honest representation of the daily lives of Appalachian women in agriculture." Austin Ledzian and Joe Mrava talk about their project Women Farmers of Appalachia

"Even more striking than the images are the stories of the strength and steadfastness of the women behind the photographs. There was Laura, whose land has remained in her family for many generations, steeled and determined to carry on a lasting legacy. Another farmer, Gwynn, spent 13 years with her family terracing a hillside and converting its clay to plantable, fertile soil, all in the midst of a series of personal challenges, including caring for an ailing husband." - Huck Magazine
posted by FirstMateKate (5 comments total)

Q: What do you call a farmer's wife?
A: A farmer.
posted by willF at 9:30 AM on January 16, 2018 [15 favorites]

My sister, brother-in-law and I have a farm in Western Wisconsin, and I know a number of other young farmers. One thing that has struck me is that, probably due to sexism in the workplace, in many of the heterosexual farming couples I know the man maintains his outside employment while the woman farms full time as soon as it is possible. It almost always seems to be a financial calculation - the man can earn more money off-farm , so he continues his employment. Typically both members of the couple would like to farm full time but can't afford to because of health insurance costs or just low profit.

The farmers I'm talking about here are fruit and vegetable growers. I think the reality is different among dairy, beef or pork operations. But I am not as familiar with those so I won't speak to it.
posted by Emmy Rae at 10:01 AM on January 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

Emmy Rae, there's a link in the Huck article for 2012's Census of Agriculture Highlights. I It's not exact numbers, but it does say that "About a fourth of women farmers specialized in combination crop farming (including hay production) in 2012. The next largest categories were beef cattle farming and ranching and combination livestock farming (including horse farming)".

An interesting point is that (even though %30 of farms are owned by women), they only account for 3.3% of sales (in dollars), and 6.9% of farm land.
posted by FirstMateKate at 10:18 AM on January 16, 2018 [2 favorites]

Anyway, any other ladies wanna move to arizona and start farming?
posted by FirstMateKate at 10:19 AM on January 16, 2018

I seem to be turning into a (part-time) farmer, so it was aspirational to see these. Thank you.
posted by libraryhead at 6:34 PM on January 16, 2018 [2 favorites]