Thursday, August 14, 2003

By Virginia Phillips

Pennsylvania's growing ranks of women farmers mirror the national pattern, Penn State University research shows.

From 1992 to 1997, the number of Pennsylvania's women farm operators increased 9 percent, from 2,859 to 3,250.

Many are motivated by stewardship of the land, says Amy Trauger, Penn State doctoral student in geography.

The fact that more women are operating farms corresponds to a rise in demand for organic and local food, Trauger says. "Consumers are more concerned. They want to know who is growing their food and how it is being grown."

Women buying farmland typically look for fewer acres near better markets: "They are likely to buy in an urban area where land price is higher and farms smaller. Urban markets are often better for organic and sustainably grown foods. Women farmers also engage in more diversified agriculture, tending not to adopt the mono-crop model."

When Trauger asked Pennsylvania women farmers why they were drawn to sustainable agriculture, she says she was "repeatedly told" that they found that institutions that dealt with sustainable agriculture, such as the Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture and Pennsylvania Certified Organic, were supportive of them.

"They didn't always find this at Agway or equipment dealerships that deal with both kinds of agriculture."

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