So Why Not Farm Women?

Would you believe that a full 40% of U. S. farms are owned and operated by women, and that about 65% of the world’s agricultural work--translate that to “your food”--is produced by women?

The U.S. Postal Service neither knows nor cares, apparently. It summarily turned down a request from American Agri-Women for a stamp honoring farm women because “there is a lack of national interest, and historical perspective to support such a stamp.” Farmers think this is just a mite highhanded because women have been part of the farm team since the Pilgrims stepped onto Plymouth Rock.

Well before that, actually. Archeologists tell us that the first farmers were women who were looking for a stable food source near the cave so they could feed the kids while their men were out hunting. That marked the beginning of the end of hunter-gatherer society and the beginning of cultivated agriculture, which led to villages. Not much different than the families crossing the plains in the late 1700s and early 1800s who set up housekeeping in extremely difficult circumstances, raising the food while the men went hunting or trapping after the land was cleared.

A couple of historical notes tripped over in research: In 1880 here in California, Harriet Strong went out on a limb, as it were, and planted English walnut trees, which led to the first commercial orchard. This started a new and important part of the ag industry. And in 1794 in the Deep South, Catherine Littlefield Greene assumed control of a large plantation after the death of her husband, Nathanael Greene, the Revolutionary War general. Catherine Greene managed well and drew up working drawings for a more efficient method of separating cotton fiber and seed, but women were not allowed to apply for patents. She gave her drawings to Eli Whitney, who developed the patent for the cotton gin in his name--and the rest is history.

In the United States, in our extremely complicated system that gets food to stores on this continent and around the world, hundreds of thousands of the people who do the work are women. Some are on tractors pulling combines; others drive trucks to the warehouse, farrow pigs and pull calves in the spring. Here in Ventura County, women harvest lettuce or strawberries, work on the packing line in an avocado plant, or do the accounting, as well as many other jobs in the industry.

For example, Cindy Klittich is an entomologist who raises the beneficial bugs farmers use as parasites on pests to reduce pesticide use. At Fillmore Insectary where she works, four of the seven professionals are women. They like this very nurturing aspect of agriculture.

Robin Finnerty makes loans to farmers in the Farm Credit Bank. She may be consulting with a beekeeper client one day and counting steers with a cattleman (or woman) the next. Now a senior loan officer, she really enjoys farm banking as a satisfying career after 13 years.

Dorcas Thille and Anita Tate sit on packing house and commodity boards of directors as owner-managers of their farms. Dorcas lost two husbands in about eight years and found herself with six children to raise and a farm to run. The kids are grown, educated and on their own, and she’s a highly respected member of the farm community.

*

So what’s this “we-get-no-respect” bit?

Farm women across the country have earned that postage stamp. Rosie the Riveter got one, and she was just a flash in the pan, relatively speaking. I don’t mean to throw rocks at Rosie but a million and a half farm women took over the plowing and management of their family farms during World War II when their husbands went to war. That food supported us and our allies overseas through those long, weary years.

The historian for American Agri-Women is a farm co-owner from Wisconsin named Florence Rachwal. She has contacted the U.S. Postal Service repeatedly since 1993, when the stamp idea came up in convention. The more the Postal Service says “no,” the more she digs in her heels. On the organization’s 25th anniversary in November, she’s determined to deliver a stamp contract to the convention, if it’s humanly possible. She’s been peppering the Postal Service with magazine articles, books, letters and petitions (nearly 10,000 signatures so far), and now has the support of a Congressman, Rep. Mark Green (R-Wis.), who has entered House Resolution 213 in support of this commemorative stamp. It’s in the subcommittee on the Postal Service in the Government Reform Committee. They’re requesting co-sponsorship for the resolution from as many congressmen as possible.

Wouldn’t it be a surprise if local congressmen suddenly signed on as co-sponsors?

All it takes to voice your support is a local phone call to your congressman’s office and an explanation for your request. And wouldn’t you love to see the faces in the Postal Service if they suddenly had to take seriously this little Wisconsin farm woman with the tenacity of a bulldog?

Come on and join the fun and honor the women who help feed you. Rep. Elton’s Gallegly’s (R-Simi Valley) number is (805) 485-2300 (West county), and Rep. Brad Sherman’s (D-Sherman Oaks) is (805) 449-2372 (East county). (To write Gallegly at his Capitol Hill office: 2427 Rayburn House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515-0523. E-mail: www.house.gov/gallegly. For Sherman, the address is: 1524 Longworth House Office Bldg., Washington, D.C. 20515-0524. E-mail: brad.sherman@mail.house.gov.)

We’ll keep you posted.