Penn State rural sociologists Carolyn Sachs (left) and Fern Willits are part of a research team investigating the many roles that women fulfill in farming enterprises of the past, present, and future.

Born in California and raised in upstate New York, Hart-Gonzalez grew up a country girl, working in horse stables and spending her summers in the woods. But her adult life has been spent in cities and suburbs until now. When she told her two adult daughters that she and Steve were moving to a farm to begin organic farming, they saw it as a fad.

“They said, ‘Okay, mom’s at it again,’” she recalls. “But it’s our piece of the answer to the environmental challenge, and when I got here, I said, ‘This is it; I’m finally home.’ When they saw me for the first time after the move, they saw that I had so much energy and health. My youngest said she was sorry she questioned me—it’s so obviously the right thing for me.”

On Pennsylvania farms, many women choose to call themselves principal operators “because they may make the business decisions,” says Jack Watson, state program leader for Penn State Cooperative Extension.

“One thing I have noticed and have heard very clearly from extension educators is that if you want to work with farmers in Pennsylvania and understand their business, most often you need to include women in the partnership as part of the discussion,” he says. “We’re making progress with it but haven’t completely figured it out yet. Women sometimes have not felt welcome to the kinds of meetings we’ve had for farmers. As an organization, we need to make our programs more welcoming and useful for women, including settings, topics, and tone of presentation.”

Watson would find an ally in Lyn Garling, integrated pest management education specialist at Penn State and owner of Over the Moon Farm in Centre County, where she produces pasture-fed poultry and eggs, grass-fed beef and veal, and organically raised pork. It’s well known, Garling says, that women typically do participate significantly in decision-making on the farm, but this is not widely acknowledged.

“Often, conventional farm meetings are geared only toward male farmers,” she says. “I’ve sat through plenty of ‘dumb blonde’ or wife jokes while trying to learn about farming. It doesn’t make you feel very respected.”

Garling notes that there are significant challenges facing women wanting to start their own farm operation from scratch. “For one, women tend to have less capital and earning power. Plus, it is assumed they don’t have the proper farm experience or ability. If I go to a bank and say I want to farm, they’ll laugh me out of the room. Private banks don’t like to fund farming, anyway, since it is such a risky business, and if you bring up organic farming, that is a real unknown. They don’t even ask me for a business plan. They just basically say, ‘I don’t think so, honey.’