A recently concluded national study of 70 land-grant universities found that undergraduate women enrolled in agriculture programs outnumber undergraduate men by more than 2,900 students. The Food and Agricultural Education Information System studied trends related to gender among undergraduate students enrolled in 14 agriculture academic areas at land-grant institutions between 2004 and 2011.

 

The increase in undergraduate women studying agriculture is a relatively new trend. As recently as 2004, men outnumbered women by more than 1,400 students. By 2008, the number of undergraduate women and undergraduate men enrolled in agriculture academic areas was about equal.

 

(excerpted from an editorial written by AFBF Director of News Services Cindy Sirekis)

 

This growth in undergraduate women studying agriculture tracks closely with an overall increase in women farmers tracked by the Agriculture Department. The department’s most recent Census of Agriculture revealed that the number of women farm operators increased by 19 percent (to 1,008,943) between 2002 and 2007.

 

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