‘Ass‐kicking’ Women: Doing and Undoing Gender in a US Livestock Auction

Using in‐depth interviews with farm operators and participant observation at a livestock auction, this article explores how women in conventional agriculture in the USA ‘do gender’ in a male‐dominated world. In particular the ways that space, both public and private, alters the performance of gender are analysed. Given that agriculture in the USA has traditionally been tied to masculinity and that more and more women are entering the field, the article examines the strategies women employ to negotiate the tension between being women and being farmers. The findings suggest that in general women's success is intricately tied to their ability to reproduce the masculinity that spells success for their male counterparts. These women dress in masculine clothing, swear and are ‘tough as nails’. Furthermore, women's mere presence as farm operators does not necessarily subvert the relationship between masculinity and agriculture. In many ways this notion is reinforced by the presence of these women and so the performance of gender ultimately reinforces rather than subverts the ties between hegemonic masculinity and agriculture.     

The Political and Economic Consequences of Defining Sustainable Agriculture in the US

Despite the increasing popularity of sustainably produced foods, a concrete definition of sustainable agriculture has been elusive. Even the US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) article, “What is Sustainable Agriculture?” starts with the idea that “Some terms defy definition. ‘Sustainable agriculture’ has become one of them” (Gold 2011). This essay explores (1) the history of sustainable agriculture as a concept in the United States, (2) the political and economic forces that have impacted and stifled the process of defining sustainable agriculture, and (3) the implications for social justice that come with creating a specific definition of sustainable agriculture. Recognizing that the ability to define a varied set of agricultural practices as “sustainable” (or not) is an important source of political, economic, or social power, this essay explains how such processes might impact the future of food systems in the United States.     

“The Only Thing That Isn't Sustainable . . . Is the Farmer”: Social Sustainability and the Politics of Class among Pacific Northwest Farmers Engaged in Sustainable Farming

Using interviews and participant observation at Pacific Northwest sustainable farming operations, this article analyzes the complex ways that class privileges and labor practices impact the social sustainability of sustainable agriculture. While the farmers in this study were highly aware of and reflexive about the class politics of sustainable agriculture, they also participated in a classed system that restricts access to sustainable farming as an occupation even as it exploits the labor of the farmer in order to regulate prices. In particular, the farmers in the study benefited from educational privileges and often‐lucrative off‐farm income, they expressed a desire to make their goods more accessible and affordable even as they marketed their foods to their upper‐middle‐class consumers, and they used their own idealism as justification to exploit their own difficult labor on the farm. Using a qualitative, ethnographic approach, this research explores the negotiations between farmers' social ideals and the actual practice of sustainable agriculture in a capitalist system.     

Beyond “Inherit It or Marry It”: Exploring How Women Engaged in Sustainable Agriculture Access Farmland

Despite an overall decrease in new farm operations, the number of women farm operators grew 30 percent between 2002 and 2007, with 300 percent growth since 1978. This research suggests, however, that opportunities for women have unfolded unevenly. We argue that women's opportunities to farm are affected by their social location and life course, suggesting that as their lives unfold across specific cultural and economic moments, different cohorts of women experience divergent opportunities to farm. Using in‐depth interviews with women engaged in sustainable farming in the Inland Northwest, this article examines how women access farmland. Our findings suggest three methods for access: (1) access through the traditional means of marrying a male farmer and then carving out space for one's self as a farmer; (2) access later in life after a life‐altering event like divorce and using personal financial means, such as retirement income or selling appreciated property; (3) access at a young age through the pooling of marital resources with a husband who works off the farm. Our research suggests that women's land access should not be presumed a progressive narrative and suggests the need for a more complex understanding of the challenges that women in agriculture face today despite their increased presence in farming.