A thoughtful observation from Larry Irion, in Congerville, Illinois:
“The better question is ‘where are the boys or men in agriculture today’? Being a former agriculture teacher who taught in the late 60’s and early 70s I have noticed in the last decade a big trend in men backing off in the agriculture and leadership field. I also taught at two major universities that young men didn’t seem to have the drive to succeed [compared to] girls. Being retired now I substitute at a local high school and find that half of the class is girls, and that the agriculture teacher is a woman. Nothing wrong with a woman as an agriculture teacher who is doing a great job but the subjects being taught are not down on the farm directly. Question then is do we need men on the farm with the technology available that work can be done with less physical activity due to hydraulics and GPS? I visited the Fair Oaks Farm last weekend and was amazed to see young 15-year-old females talking about swine breeding, gestation, rations, etc. and had no formal education in the field and they did an amazing job like a college graduate. What I am getting at is, ‘Is farming a man’s field? Do we need men in agriculture anymore?’
It has been a continuing adjustment in my career as agriculture finally has begun to utilize the talent of the other half of our population. Certainly, industries who serve basic ag have been increasingly inclusive.
New veterinarians are overwhelmingly women, for example. Technology increasingly makes the upper-body-strength issue less important.
My own view is women would occupy even more roles in ag, except in the now standard two-earner household, they are far more likely to have high-paying skills to provide steady outside income and all-important health insurance coverage.
Our career as a husband-wife operation was already disappearing, and now borders on impractical. Agriculture needs capable people today and puts less value on gender, but too many men have few other professional skills or education. This funnels them toward production ag.
I think we are continuing an occupational specialization with more female farmers, while operators are still predominantly male.
