I don’t think those numbers will change in the large GM organizations. Women “get” the whole commodity crop thing. They don’t like GMO. They raise families, they see their kids get sick, and no one has an explanation. So we, as women, back away from anything that could be harmful. Thus, I see our numbers in Big Ag dwindling further. Men may never wake up and catch up…

First of all, let me make clear what I’m not saying, since I’ve obviously struck a chord with those orchestrating the corn and soybean growers’ $30 million PR campaign. My goal was to highlight the glaring lack of women on national agriculture commodity boards at a time when they’re training women to be their public face. That raises the question: Why are women being singled out just for this role? Why aren’t men included in this campaign?

I recognize that several ag organizations are led and well represented by women, but the fact is, women constitute just 1 percent (3 out of 228) of the membership of the national commodity boards, the very groups sponsoring this campaign. I believe that more women should be welcomed at all levels of these organizations, including at the top.

I urged “farmers and non-farmers alike to question how our food is grown, not who is showcased in a public relations campaign.” Women and men alike have important messages to convey especially to non-farmers. But the puzzling response from proponents of this campaign completely misses the point – why are women being singled out to do the public relations campaigns while their male counterparts do the decision making?

Women farmers are some of the most hard-working, well-rounded, dedicated and intelligent people in agriculture today. Among these dedicated women are some of my family members, who work long hours, planting and harvesting corn, soybeans and alfalfa and raising cattle, chickens and hogs. Some of them are making major marketing decisions and managing funds for their families’ farms. I worked on our family farm for more than 10 years and lean on that experience every day I show up to work at EWG.

I agree that farmers’ voices need to be heard, but this should be coupled with an honest and open debate about current farming practices, federal incentives and regulations and their effect on our water, air and health – for both conventional and organic farming.

At EWG we value transparency: transparency in farm payments to the largest and wealthiest operations and transparency in the millions spent on marketing campaigns that are too often designed to mislead consumers.

Please, do an analysis of female representation across the entire spectrum of boards and organizations involved in “production” agriculture. Prove me wrong. I would love to see more statistics on women’s representation there since women are often working on the same farms these men represent at a national or state level.

At the very least my hope is that by asking the tough questions, we could start an honest discussion and hopefully move toward a path that rights this gender inequality.

Sheila

Wow, what a crack team of investigators the EWG has. They dug deep by taking the ardous step of logging on to the websites of national commodity groups and counting their board members. Stunning piece of research there. *rolling eyes*

Those, like myself, in rural America and mainstream agriculture still place value on traditional gender roles whether you agree with them or not. This is reflected in the leadership of organizations representing farmers. It is a cultural difference, not some conspiracy to silence the voices of women.

Why is it considered an advantage that women run farms 3 times smaller than men? Larger farms can be farmed sustainably and/or organically without planting commodity crops. With all of the regulations farms have to follow it is almost impossible to turn a profit from a small farm. If women arent’ able to farm economically, then men certainly won’t appoint them to any boards. Women need to become players in the field, and farm profitably to be taken seriously.

I immediately recognize the importance of this article, regardless of your take on its tone. This is an important debate about who does the farming, what scale is the farming, and how is that effort translated into different bodies that make policy, regulation etc.

I do have some thoughts on the comments too ;)

First, Sheila, your response to comments from Pam are right on target. Second, Pam, I would love to hear some more on your comment:

*Farm women work hard alongside farm men, and we need to stop focusing so much on these divides between men and women, large and small farms, and conventional and organic agriculture.

I disagree entirely. By not focusing on the reality of these existing divides we move along in the status quo arrangement of invisibility. I speak from watching and studying the context of women in the economic south and farming on a global scale. These dichotomies and the irreducible complexity of these topics is so much in need of investigating that the majority of people on the planet are now in sustenance mode instead of steadily climbing out of economic and ecologic poverty.

That said, Julie, women don’t need to become players. This is adversarial and contextualizes a situation where the rough and tumble of zombie capitalism is considered normative. I say no f*ing way to the idea of “if you can’t beat them, join them”. Policy can and should move into a different set of base operating conditions; something that is not based on accounting the disenfranchised as a commodity/consumer treadmill.

Sue, your comment is just lovely. Having just come back from sabbatical in NZ and looking into cooperative movements in farm and ag NZ in comparison to USA, I wouldn’t mind the company of any of those 4 million bolshy Kiwis ;)

The absence of women’s voices on the boards of the nation’s largest commodity groups is no surprise. It’s just another illustration of the marginalization of women in an industry devoted to profit at the expense of social, environmental, economic and public health.

Women have been the primary drivers behind the healthy food and farming movement for decades, as farmers, consumers and advocates. The media are latching on to the story now as a result of the 2007 ag census figures released last year showing a 30% increase in the number of women primary operators in the US. Some of the increase is due to the fact that census forms now allow both farm partners to be listed rather than just one, who in the past was usually the man. But women are entering farming at a greater rate than men, and now operate 1 million of the nation’s reported 2.2 million farms.

A large percentage of these women operate small farms that raise food. Food farming is small-scale and labor-intensive; 40 acres is “big” for a food farm. These women work hard, with and without partners, and they turn a profit. Food is what they want to raise, because they value providing a healthy alternative to industrialized food for their families and communities.

While I agree that women can effect change at the grassroots, community level–clearly they are, as the explosion in the organic and natural foods sector of agriculture can attest–they will face an uphill battle for economic and social viability as long as their voices are absent from the bodies that create ag policy. Women DO need to become players at the policy level.

Agriculture is one of the two enormous economic sectors in our country that are almost entirely policy-driven (the other is energy). Federal farm policy determines what is grown, who gets loans and price supports, and who is eligible for federal crop insurance. Current policies support the unsustainable model of agriculture that currently dominates in America at the expense of our health. Women currently own nearly half the farmland, operate nearly half the farms, and make 80% of the food-buying decisions in US households. So why do women hold only 16% of the seats in Congress, and 23% of state legislative and executive seats?

It’s not a question of “beating or joining them.” It’s a question of BEING “them.”

Check out The White House Project (www.thewhitehouseproject.org), and Women, Food and Agriculture Network (www.wfan.org). And keep talking.

I have read this article several times now, trying to figure out where the author got misdirected in her thinking in regard to CommonGround. I happen to be one of the 15 VOLUNTEERS participating in CommonGround. When I agreed to participate as a volunteer, never once did I consider how many men and how many women sit on any one commodity board. I view agriculture, and thus food production, as a team effort among everyone involved. I felt I could be a strong, objective contributor to an effort where the goal is not leadership or promotion. Explanation of farming practices in America is a more appropriate description of CommonGround’s purpose. The author refers to those of us who have volunteered as the “faces chosen to showcase the campaign.” That seems quite extreme considering how the program really works. Ultimately, many, and I would contend, even most, farmers (men and women alike) do what they do because they are not comfortable in the public eye. This group of women is willing to step out of their traditional day-to-day comfort zone to be advocates for all farmers.

The volunteers come from all different types of farms and backgrounds. Each of us is respectful and considerate of differences in farming practices and food choices. All of us are completely involved in the day-to-day running of our farms, helping make business decisions as well as doing the physical work. Several of us are or have been involved with commodity boards and are extremely involved in our communities and our children’s activities. For myself, I am a wife, mom, daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, and friend (just like any other woman who loves her family and friends) who also happens to love agriculture and doesn’t mind sharing our family’s farm story about raising beef and crops. In addition, I, like many other women, happen to be the one who decides what will fill our refrigerator and pantry. I often receive wonderful grilling and restaurant advice from men, but when I have grocery questions, I tend to seek advice from another female. I hope I can be that sounding board for questions and comments as well as a source of accurate facts for other women and men who desire greater understanding of food and where it comes from.