“In general, women tend to have less access to capital,” she says. “Bankers are notoriously bad for women—especially if they go in alone—so women generally put financing together for themselves. A lot of the women I interviewed had no farm background, a lot had large gardens that they’d expanded or had homesteaded. They turned them into businesses, going back to the land with goats, cows, and pigs.”

The other piece that is crucial, Trauger contends, is that “certain places and spaces of the sustainable agriculture community” are more welcoming to women. For example, she says, a woman shopping for conventional agricultural machinery is often dismissed, ignored, or asked to return with a husband. Organizations like the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture (PASA) and Pennsylvania Certified Organic, she says, have had more success in attracting women as farmers.

“They are often run by women, and women feel welcomed and really supported as farmers in ways that they aren’t when we go into more conventional spaces,” she says. “PASA, in conjunction with the Women’s Agricultural Network, the Accokeek Foundation in Maryland, and Penn State Cooperative Extension, added two days to its annual conference to offer intensive, hands-on equipment training for women and beginning farmers. So it’s possible to create partnerships that are welcoming to women.”

That massive tractors and combines don’t quite fit the ways women farm illustrates the mismatches found in many corners of women-led, sustainable, small-scale agriculture. “Our interviews say women want hands-on, small-group-focused intensive training with other women, ideally conducted by women,” Trauger says. “We’re trying to offer the information that women look for and need in ways that are the most effective for them. We get requests for programming for everything from business plans to how to buy grain.”

Another revelation was that women farmers were looking for an organization that could offer mentoring and a sense of community, and the researchers wrestled with how to provide it.

“Carolyn and I always wanted to help change the lack of support for women farmers and the feelings of isolation they told us they experienced,” Trauger says. “We were interested in starting an organization, but we had no idea of what that organization would be.” Trauger and Sachs found the model they were looking for in Vermont’s Women’s Agricultural Network (WAgN). While Sachs decided to work with other women to form a national version of the network, Trauger took the lead in establishing the Pennsylvania Women’s Agricultural Network
(PA-WAgN) in May 2003. Now in its third year, PA-WAgN has two threads: developing programming for network members and doing research with women to find out what they need.

“Response to our program has been phenomenal,” says farmer and Penn State senior extension associate Linda Stewart Moist, who coordinates PA-WAgN’s outreach activities. “We’ve grown from a 120-member organization in January 2004 to more than 420 members in November 2005. This rapid increase probably reflects a pent-up demand on the part of an underserved population that has traditionally been hard to reach.

“The College of Agricultural Sciences has been very supportive of the women’s network, and extension has been a real ally in reaching women farmers,” Moist adds. “Extension educators have helped arrange field days and offered their expertise for educational workshops on topics from business planning to crop production.”

Volunteers like Hart-Gonzalez and Hertzler serve as regional representatives, recruiting members and soliciting ideas for field days. While many are committed to sustainable agriculture, Moist says, PA-WAgN’s core concern is supporting women—no matter what style of farming they prefer.

“The 2001 Penn State survey found a significant correlation between women and the use of sustainable processes on the farm,” she says. “Most of the growth of women operators in the census was in places where there was also growth in small-scale agriculture. We’re not looking
for any audience but women farmers. We’d be thrilled to have a broad constituency of older, more-established women operators. Our mission is to empower and provide networking and educational opportunities for women, and that’s what we intend to do.”

“The energy and enthusiasm women bring is something you don’t see in conventional agriculture among men,” says rural sociologist Kathy Brasier. “Most of the time, with conventional groups of mostly men, the discussion is about how agriculture is failing and losing, how farmers don’t have a future. It’s a ‘woe is me’ farming mentality. I don’t see that among women. They’re more interested in what we can build and make and how we can improve relationships. They do a great job of learning from each other and that energy is infectious.”

“The best aspect of being a woman farmer has less to do with being a woman, and more to do with being a farmer,” says Hart-Gonzalez. “I didn’t try to be a woman, but I am trying to be a farmer, and, regardless of gender, we’re all in this together.”

Faculty and staff referenced in this article are Jack Watson, Penn State Cooperative Extension state program leader for agriculture and natural resources; Lyn Garling, manager of integrated pest management education programs in the Department of Entomology; Kathryn Brasier, assistant professor of rural sociology; Carolyn Sachs, professor of rural sociology and women’s studies; Jill Findeis, professor of agricultural, environmental and regional economics and demography; Fern Willits, Distinguished Professor of Rural Sociology; Amy Trauger, research
associate in agricultural economics and rural sociology; and Linda Stewart Moist, senior extension associate in entomology. Other research collaborators include Mary Barbercheck, professor of entomology; Nancy Ellen Kiernan, cooperative extension program evaluator; and Ann Stone, PA-WAgN staff assistant.