Throughout Canada and worldwide, women have been a critical part of farm and ranch operations for centuries. Now, for the first time in 30 years, the number of female Canadian farm operators appear to be on the rise.
Farms in Canada tend to be a family operation. Women are resuming roles that stretch beyond homemaker and balancing the farm’s books and instead are taking on more daily farming operations.
All farms, not just commercial- scale operations, total about 190,000 in Canada. Some of these farms include a small number of animals or a small greenhouse, to intensive livestock and aquafarming businesses. The vast grain and oilseed farms that form in the Prairies that stretch as far reaches as the nation’s north and south regions and into the mountains. All of these fit the definition of farms.
Women farm operators are on the rise from 28.7 percent in 2016 to the most current 34 percent. One of the methods to confirm these percentages is to look at graduates of post-secondary agricultural and natural resources education program since 1991. Thirty years ago, 33 percent of students were female. In 2021, it was 51 percent. That is quite a jump in percentages proving that women are continuing to make their mark in agriculture.
Women are the fastest growing group of upcoming farmers and this is a good thing because women tend to be community oriented. There is a saying that goes, “If you teach a man to farm, his family will eat. If you teach a woman to farm, the community will eat.”