4-9 IAN Women in Ag

  The USDA’s Regional Risk Management Agency in Spokane is getting very proactive with regard to an increasing number of women getting involved in farming. The question is what part is involved? The risk management part or the USDA part. That’s touchy and I’ll be right back to clear it up.

A recent series of conferences held in the state of Washington showed that women are increasingly involved in agriculture. The conferences were put on by the USDA risk management agency and I talked to Jo Lynne Seufer about the dynamic of women’s involvement: “My mom, in Colorado, my father passed away and she assumed continuing the farm but these are brand new. In Oregon I would even say that the groups are younger women. It’s pretty exciting. Is it conceivable that women are taking over the world? No because this is very much on a small scale. Compared to a typical farm in Idaho, Oregon or Washington. These are very small ventures. I presume a lot of it is the smaller organic farms? Yes and specialty crops and I will give you an example. We have a woman farmer in the Spokane Valley who is raising rabbits and selling them as a specialty niche market in Seattle. She cannot keep up with the demand.