More Women than Men Enrolled in University of Wisconsin Ag Program?

I stumbled across this great Farmgirl feature in the Sunday Green Bay Press Gazette, “Women take the lead on more Wisconsin farms.”

The piece notes that Wisconsin is among the top 10 states in which women are principals in farm operations.

Deb Reinhart, who was the 2007 Dairy Woman of the Year at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, says more women are drawn to agriculture because there are more opportunities for “smart, articulate people.”

But here’s a sad reality for so many families. Diane Grezenski, who farms with her husband on a dairy farm near Stevens Point, says she handles much of the day-to-day farm work. Her husband does the field work and some milking when he’s not working at a nearby paper mill so the family can have a steady income and health insurance.

She says, “somebody has to work elsewhere to get health insurance, and often it is the man, because they usually can find better-paying jobs.”

Still, women aren’t shying away from farming. Thirty years ago at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences there were 796 men and only 353 women enrolled. Last fall, more women (1,311) were enrolled than men (1,005).

Wow.