Who's running the farm?: changes and characteristics of Arkansas women in agriculture.

Women in agriculture are tremendous contributors to American society, especially within rural communities, because of the roles they play on and off the farm. Their involvement on the farm is expanding to include more decision-making and hands-on participation, and these roles have opened the door for many more women to become farmers. In the mid 1980s, educators began to notice the changing role of American women in agriculture, and conferences targeting these women emerged in a handful of states. Today, programs (often in the form of an annual training workshop or conference) for women in agriculture are developing across the United States. These programs represent a first step but thus far in most states have not effectively identified and addressed the needs of agriculture women in their changing and challenging roles.

Not only is the farm woman's role increasing on farms, but many farm women are also venturing off farm to provide additional income for the household and to give leadership to and participate in organizations that support regional agriculture and rural communities. As with their on-farm roles, there is a lack of information on the problems they face, factors important to their success, the extent of their leadership, and their level of satisfaction in these off-farm roles. Some surveys of farm women have been conducted to examine these issues, but these surveys are generally insufficient because data exist only for one point in time. Therefore, these surveys cannot be used to examine changes in roles, skills and needs over time. The purpose of this research is to provide results of the second survey of Arkansas' women in agriculture and to compare them with results of the previous year's survey. It is hoped that this information can be useful not only to researchers and educators interested in addressing needs of local women but help to illustrate the continuing changes in women's roles and their needs and thus the need for extended research over time to address these needs.

Background

Women's roles in agriculture are both broadening and increasing. A history of studies done on farm women was presented in Albright (2005). Today, in a lifestyle where time is eminent, these women continue to give themselves in numerous ways to agricultural, community, and rural development. The 2002 Census of Agriculture showed a 40% increase in the number of women operators in the last decade. Women now comprise 27.2% of all farm operators, and in Arkansas, they are 28.6% of operators. Nearly 25% of those are principal operators. Women now run 11.2% of all American farms (USDA NASS 2004).

Farm women are now broadening their responsibilities to include roles off farm. Thirty percent of farm women worked off the farm in 1969 (Sachs 1983). By 2002, 47% of women worked off farm. In Arkansas that percentage was 46 (USDA NASS 2004). There are many reasons why women work off farm. Farmers take off-farm jobs to complement low farm earnings, reduce risk caused by reliance on farm income, and simply keep their farms (Haney and Knowles 1988). Even though it may be necessary, the decision to work off the farm is difficult for many women. Research shows that younger women with higher education levels and no small children are the most likely to find off-farm jobs (Haney and Knowles 1988; Tanner 1999).

As far back as 1857, farm women were working toward rural and community development with organizations (Tanner 1999). The organizations provide them with skills and networking opportunities, and the women use these organizations to mitigate agricultural and social problems by establishing county health departments, community libraries, community recreation centers, and home industry shops, curb-side markets and cooperative farm markets to sell goods (Tanner 1999). Even though women often met separately from men in agricultural organizations and did not hold leadership positions in those early years, they were still vital to the organizations by raising funds, organizing local community members, and educating the family and neighborhood on important issues (Haney and Knowles 1988).

In addition to these farm women (who have roles on and off the farm), there are other women who are also important to the agricultural industry. These are women who may have never lived or worked on a farm but hold positions in firms that support agriculture such as agricultural lending institutions, farm input suppliers, veterinary/animal clinics, and agricultural processors. For many years, positions in these organizations were predominantly held by men, but because of the expansion of educational opportunities, more women are choosing college programs that prepare them for important positions in agricultural fields. The number of women receiving agriculture-related degrees has more than doubled since 1993, to reach 28,801 degrees given to females in 2000 (USDA REEIS 2000).

In meeting the needs of these women who can be classified as FARM women (live on farm but may work on and/or off farm) and NON-FARM women (do not live on farms but work in agriculturally supporting industries), researchers need to understand their goals and the factors they face that limit their ability to be successful in their ventures. However, success is measured differently by different people. It could mean maximizing income or profit for some (Hoy, Carland, and Carland 1984), or it may be nonfinancial, such as assisting the community or being able to use a skill that is important to them (Buttner and Moore 1997; Mayasami, Cooper, and Valeria 1999). Consumer theory in economics can help explain these differences. In consumer theory, utility or satisfaction is maximized, not profit (Nicholson 2004). The level of utility received from a good or service (or in this case, success for a farm woman or non-farm woman) is closely tied to tastes and preferences of the individual. A person can be said to maximize utility subject to a constraint, such as the amount of time in a week. This can be represented graphically as in figure 1. Two potentially important factors in business success (e.g., meeting financial needs and using one's skills) are placed on two different axes. The mix of these factors is used to produce utility levels along the curves [U.sub.1] and [U.sub.2]. Line E represents the budget constraint (which could be any factor that limits business success). Optimal utility is found where the constraint is tangent to the highest utility curve (point C in figure 1). Different agricultural women will have different constraints and preferences and therefore can be expected to reach different levels of success or utility from their on-farm or off-farm business/leadership activity.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

This research about Arkansas women in agriculture began last year in conjunction with the first Arkansas Women in Agriculture conference. The purpose of the conference is to provide skills and networking opportunities for women involved in all aspects of agriculture (production, processing, marketing, agribusiness, and agriculture organizations). Participants of the first conference were surveyed in spring 2005, and responses were analyzed early in the summer. Results suggest that women in principal roles in their farms/ranches and agribusinesses share or lead decision making across many business/family concerns. Many women feel that quality of life, family finances, relationships with others in agriculture and changes in capital investment in the farm/business improved as their role in decision making increased over time. The majority of women who own/operate the farm want to continue the farm, even if they lose domestic/business partners. Farm owner/operators share many opinions regarding the importance of various factors in their work and the challenges they face to be successful with other women in agriculture. However, results suggest women farm owner/operators face greater challenges in their work than other women in agriculture. Largest challenges were faced in finding good employees, finding/affording legal advice, keeping financial records and being respected as a female business person. The least often cited challenge for owner/operators was access to credit.

A second survey was conducted at the 2006 Women in Agriculture Conference in March. Analysis of this data began June 1. (1) This article presents results of that analysis.

Methods

To assess the roles Arkansas women hold and their changing needs based on those roles, research is being conducted in three phases. Phase One (May-August 2005) consisted of developing, conducting and evaluating a survey of women who attended the 2005 Arkansas Women in Agriculture (ARWIA) conference. Phase Two (March-July 2006) consists of revising, conducting, and evaluating a survey of the 2006 ARWIA conference participants. Phase Three (July-September 2006) will consist of follow up interviews with survey respondents from both years to examine some of the survey responses in more detail and to explore other key factors identified by the women but not examined in the written survey. This paper focuses on progress made thus far on Phase Two, as well as comparison between the two years' results.