Women Run 8.6 Percent of US Farms

Is farming becoming 'the' new occupation for American women?

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Women currently operate 8.6 percent of all working farms in America, according to recently released data from the 1997 Census of Agriculture. The actual number of 165,102 women-operated farms reflects an increase of 14 percent since 1992.

Agricultural census figures show that while the total number of U.S. farms decreased by almost 15 percent from 1982 to 1997, the percentage of farms operated by women actually increased during the same period.

Does this mean that more women are making agriculture their new occupation? Not necessarily, according to analysts at the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), who cite figures showing that 36 percent of women farm operators are 65 years of age or older, with 26.3 percent being more than 70 years of age. These numbers, suggest NASS, probably illustrate that as the husband ages or dies, the wife takes control of the farm. While women-operated farms represent 8.6 percent of all farms, they only represent 3.6 percent of the value of agricultural products sold and control 5.4 percent of all land in America devoted to farming.

According to NASS, women are best represented as operators of ranches or livestock farms, especially goat or horse farms. They also tend to manage smaller farms in terms of both size and sales. For example, only 18.3 percent of women-operated farms had sales of more than $25,000 as compared to 36.9 percent of their male counterparts. Although women operators tend to run smaller, more specialized operations, they are more likely to own their farm.

Nearly 80 percent of women operators fully own their farm or ranch, as compared to 58 percent of the men. Farming is the principal occupation of 45.5 percent of the women-operated farms as compared to 50.7 percent of the men.

The census of agriculture is taken every five years and is the leading source of statistics about the United States agricultural production and operator characteristics. It is also the only source of consistent, comparable data at the county, State, and National levels.

Formerly carried out by the Census Bureau, responsibility for the census of agriculture has been transferred to the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), and will be conducted again in 2002. 

 

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Written by: Robert C. Longley
Date: 01/01/2001
URL: http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa010101.htm