Women Agricultural Landowners—Past Time to Put Them 'On the Radar'

Citation:

Petrzelka, Peggy, Ann Sorensen, and Jennifer Filipiak. 2018. “Women Agricultural  Landowners—Past Time to Put Them ‘On the Radar.’” Society & Natural Resources 31 (7): 853–64.

Authors: Peggy Petrzelka, Ann Sorensen, Jennifer Filipiak

Abstract:

While women own 25% of the acres rented out for farming, little has been done in terms of federal policy that focuses on these women. In this policy analysis, we detail how (1) lack of data on these women landowners and (2) the invisibility of these women to federal natural resource and agricultural agency staff contribute to women nonoperating landowners (WNOLs) not being on the federal policy radar. We discuss how the persistence of these factors continues to marginalize WNOLs in federal agricultural policy, despite the mandate of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agencies to be serving underserved populations such as WNOLs. Our study findings clearly illustrate a critical point: federal agricultural/conservation agencies are not fulfilling their mandate to reach WNOLs. Using data from USDA Production Regions in the United States, we detail how WNOLs are marginalized and provide specific policy recommendations to allow for intentional inclusion of these women.

Keywords: agricultural landowners, conservation, federal agricultural policy, gender, nonoperator landowners

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2018