Photo essay: FarmHer documents the badass women who grow our food.

[theHandpuppet]

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/08/women-farmers-farmher
Mother Jones
This Is What a Farmer Looks Like
FarmHer documents the badass women who grow our food.
—By Kiera Butler
Sat Aug. 30, 2014 6:00 AM EDT

During the 2013 Super Bowl, Marjorie Gayle Alaniz was captivated by a commercial for Dodge Ram trucks that featured portraits of American farmers. She couldn't help but notice, however, that among the many farmers shown, there were only a handful of women. Alaniz, who comes from a family of Iowa farmers, was disappointed. "I wondered, how has this happened, that images of farms don't include women, when practically every farm has a woman working on it?" Indeed, according to the latest USDA Census of Agriculture, 46 percent of American farm operators are women.

Shortly after her Super Bowl revelation, Alaniz quit her job at a crop insurance company and started documenting women farmers in Central Iowa. The result is FarmHer, an online collection of photographs of some 40 lady farmers and counting. "The feedback has been fabulous," says Alaniz. "It's usually coming from women who grew up around agriculture or are currently involved in ag. They say, 'Thank you for showing the rest of the world that we are out here doing this, too.'"

A sample of these photos can be found at the link provided above.

[DURHAM D]

1. Thanks for posting this.

Someone posted that ad on DU at the time and everyone (but me) thought it was wonderful and when I commented on the failure to acknowledge women I got slapped around pretty good.

I am not a farmer but I inherited a farm from my mother, who inherited it from her mother, who inherited it from her mother who bought it in 1903 and all their farmer husbands just simply married into a damn good deal.

[CTyankee]

2. I freaking love these women farmers...they are farm savers and are fabulous...

they are doing what a lot of people won't do and I have nothing but the greatest respect for them!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

4. This is my dream, my goal, what I aspire to be. I have the land and, am acquiring the knowledge and

equipment necessary to sustain myself and my family. One day it will be a working farm. Good lord willing and the creek don't rise

[theHandpuppet]

5. Cool beans!

Much luck to you -- I always wanted to farm but have settled on organic gardening.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. don't panic ... its organic !!

is there any other way ?

totally off grid is my main objective ... well, wifi but powered by my own generator ...

[theHandpuppet]

7. pm me if you need some reference books

It's time to pass on some of my books and I have a number on how to go solar, gardening, preserving, etc.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. that would be wonderful ... thanks for the offer, I will take you up on it.

I dearly love my books

[theHandpuppet]

9. Great. I'll pm you a list tomorrow.

You can choose what you think would be helpful.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

10. cool ... look forward to it. thanks