A Year to Elevate Women Farmers
They first said it in May of 2025.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations announced that 2026 would be the International Year of the Woman Farmer. The goal is to recognize women’s indispensable yet often overlooked contributions to global agrifood systems and to push progress on persistent gender gaps.
They work across the agrifood value chain, from production and processing to distribution and trade, and they play a central role in household food security and nutrition. In 2021, agrifood systems employed 40 percent of working women globally, nearly equal to men.
Still, those contributions are often undervalued. Women’s work is more likely to be irregular, informal, part time, low paid, labor intensive, and vulnerable. Globally, women in wage employment in agrifood systems earn 78 cents for every dollar earned by men.
Here in the United States, the American Farm Bureau Federation is marking the year. Farm Bureau and 15 partners are launching an information hub and efforts to celebrate and advance women in agriculture.
We are excited to watch the celebration unfold.
