Agricultural Leadership: Women Can Do It!
by: Lynne Finnerty, editor of Farm Bureau News, a publication of the American Farm Bureau.


A woman, Sybilla Masters, invented a method to grind corn so it could be processed into food. Masters lived in colonial Philadelphia, and in 1715 England’s King George I issued a patent for the invention…to her husband. Women were not allowed to hold patents.
 
            A woman, Madame Lefebre, invented a process to produce nitrogen fertilizer. She received a patent in 1858 in England, but she has not always received popular credit for her discovery.
 
            A woman, Barbara McClintock, in the 1920s traced the genetic history of corn and showed that genes could move within chromosomes. Subsequent discoveries in genomic research are built on her work, and she was formally recognized with a Nobel Prize in 1983.
 
            These are just a few examples of women’s pioneering work in the field of agriculture. Whether in the lab, on the farm or in the halls of Congress, women have made great strides on behalf of agriculture. The month of March, National Women’s History Month, is a good time to honor their sometimes overlooked contributions.
 
            Farms through the decades have operated largely on woman-power. Most farms wouldn’t run very well without the farm women who operate equipment in the field, run the household and, often nowadays, work off the farm to supplement farm income.
 
            The number of women who are primary farm operators is growing. The 2002 Census of Agriculture shows a 13 percent increase in the number of farms operated by women since the last census in 1997.
 
            Reflecting women’s interest and participation in agriculture, the Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee last year decided to focus even more attention than they have in the past on developing women’s abilities to serve as leaders in their communities, in politics and as public spokespersons for agriculture.
 
            “It’s amazing what women can do when they are encouraged and their confidence is boosted,” said Terry Gilbert, current Women’s Committee chair. “I see it all the time, and with the emphasis we are placing on learning how to lobby Congress and take on other leadership roles, I hope to see it even more.”
 
            The role of women in agriculture was recognized by Farm Bureau from its beginning. At the first American Farm Bureau Federation annual convention, in Indianapolis in 1920, the delegates declared that women “are invited into full participation.” It was soon afterward that the first Women’s Committee was appointed.
 
            Earlier this year, former U.S. Rep. Virginia Smith, who represented Nebraska’s third district, passed away. She had also served as the Farm Bureau Women’s Committee chair. Smith had been retired from the House of Representatives for 15 years, and while her death was mourned it also brought renewed recognition of her leadership in Congress and Farm Bureau.
 
According to legend, upon hearing a male colleague quip: “In politics, a woman’s role is in the home,” Smith is said to have shot back that a woman’s role is “in the House.”
 
            The numerous examples of women leaders in agriculture show that a woman’s role is wherever she wants it to be. And wherever she chooses to make her contribution, agriculture will be better off for it.

3/27/06