According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture, there are 1.2 million female producers – accounting for 36% of total producers. Here’s how four of them are crushing stereotypes and sharing life on the farm with consumers.
Mary Pat Sass
Mary Pat Sass grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and pursued a corporate career in agriculture following college. However , after moving to Illinois and starting a family with her husband, Josh, she realized her new dream was to be with her family. This eventually led to her getting more involved on the farm.
“She’s amazingly supportive in what we’re doing here,” Josh says. “Whatever I need to do on the farm, she’s game for it. Whatever she needs to do, she’s game for that, too.”
Mary Pat also works to connect with consumers and fellow farm wives through social media. She hopes this will encourage other women who want to be more involved on the farm.
“I try to share in an approachable way to help people understand what we do, and kind of create this relatable, farm mom content and help other farm wives and moms feel like they’re not alone in what they’re doing,” she says.
Another venture that has grown from her life on the farm is Grounded Journals – the business she launched as a way for farmers capture their memories by writing about their experiences and allowing past generations to recollect theirs.
“This is really a ‘cup filling’ business for me,” Mary Pat says. “I get a lot of feedback on how thankful people are that these have been created as a way for them to keep their family’s memories and an easy way, too.”
To read more about Mary Pat’s story, click here.
Whitney Larson
Whitney Larson’s connection to agriculture is one that many farm women can relate to. She grew up a generation removed from agriculture, but her husband lived and breathed farming.
“It’s been in Bart’s blood his whole life, and so it was his dream. And it quickly became mine after I saw how passionate he was about it,” she says.
Larson and her husband started their own operation after there wasn’t room for him to come back to his family’s farm. Not growing up in a farming family, however, the long hours and suppers apart were hard for her to get accustomed to.
“So, coming into this where I wasn’t in agriculture, I felt very distant or disconnected from this lifestyle,” Larson says. “I had actually resented our operation for probably a solid year or two, and finally Bart started pushing me to try more things.”
Once she started trying new challenges around the farm, Larson started to feel differently.
“I do find pride in the fact that if we have something go down or a guy can’t come for the day, they’ll say, ‘Hey, Whitney, go hop in the combine’ and they’ll have you run it,” she says.
Now she’s on a mission to instill courage in other women though social media, an event called “Cultivating Courage”, her podcast and an ag women connect chapter in Kansas.
“Twelve years ago, when there was social media, that support wasn’t there for me. And I just want to be that light for others and let them know that, ‘Hey, just because you didn’t grow up on a farm, or just because you’ve never tried it, doesn’t mean you can’t do it,’” she says.
To read more about Larson’s story, click here.
Callee Pellett
Last year when Callee Pellett was only 15, was already signing the lease on her first 20 acres. Now she’s making the decisions on those acres from start to finish.
“I make the decision on what crop I’m going to plant. I do my own anhydrous. I do my own planting, and I do my own harvesting,” Pellett says.
She’s the seventh generation on her family’s farm and has learned the ropes from farming with her dad, Mike, and using his expertise.
“Not all kids get this opportunity and get the opportunity to learn alongside multiple generations, so that’s really cool,” she says.
Pellett works to balance her time on the farm with school, sports and showing cattle – but she doesn’t let that slow her down. Last fall, she clocked 107 hours in the field.
Currently a senior in high school, Pellett has plans to attend either Iowa State University or Kansas State University and then return to the farm full time.
To read more about Pellett’s story, click here.
Zoe Kent
Zoe Kent purchased her eighth-generation family farm two years ago – something she’s always known she wanted to do.
“I can’t remember a time I didn’t want to farm,” she says. “I think there was one time in fifth grade I wanted to be a hairdresser. My parents steered me away from that. I couldn’t cut a straight line to save my life.”
She returned home to the farm full time after graduating from Ohio State and purchased the farm from her dad, who was ready to retire.
Kent was encouraged by a friend to show her daily life on the farm on social media. Her accounts, called Farm with Zoe, have gained popularity quickly in the past two years – growing to over 200,000 followers.
While social media can bring out both negative and inspiring comments, Kent doesn’t let them discourage her.
“I will get the occasional just dumb comment from someone that thinks I couldn’t possibly know how to drive a tractor and that my dad’s just doing all the work behind the scenes for me, and I’m jumping in to take a video,” she says. “Sometimes those comments actually get turned into the best videos I make, because, you know, it kind of fires me up a little bit.”
Through social media and adding her own touch to the family farm, Kent works to empower others to be their best and enjoy all facets of the farm.
To read more about Kent’s story, click here.
