Idaho researchers want to know how women farmers interact with programs designed to help growers.

Ryanne Pilgeram and Katie Dentzman are part of a team conducting a four-year study about women farmers in their state.

The researchers will use data from the 2017 Census of Agriculture and a series of focus groups to build training through UI Extension. The project received a $500,000 grant from the USDA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative.

“Women do a pretty good job at figuring out how to make a living with the resources they’re given,” Pilgeram said. “We need to make sure they have equitable access to those resources.”

That includes access to land, loans and programs that help create more value on the farm.

Nationwide, men who are the primary farmers — the person most in charge of the decision making and work on the farm — have an average of 485 acres. Women who are primary farmers have an average of 222 acres.

In Idaho, male primary farmers operate an average of 514 acres and female primary farmers operate an average of 267 acres.

There are 19,650 male primary farmers in Idaho and 4,927 female primary farmers.

There are 25,763 male primary farmers in Oregon and 11,032 female primary farmers.

There are 25,203 male primary farmers in Washington and 9,838 female primary farmers.

According to the researchers:

• On average, male primary farmers sold $302,929 worth of vegetables in 2017 while female primary farmers sold $66,729.

• However, when you divide sales by acreage, male primary farmers sold $1,318 worth of vegetables per acre of farmland, and women sold $1,382 per acre. This difference is not statistically significant, Dentzman said.

The main difference between men and women primary farmers in vegetable sales is a result of the size of farms operated by men and women, she said.

Not all ag products follow this exact trend, but they do all show a smaller gap in sales when accounting for farm size.

According to the census, women’s farms are smaller, they are more likely to own all their land and to live on their farms. They also tend to have a more diverse farm and are more likely to have value-added production.

Men’s farms are more likely to be certified organic than women, and women are more likely to abide by USDA organic guidelines but not have official certification.

“Things that seem to require a certification process, or getting a USDA loan, it seems like women are at a disadvantage,” Pilgeram said.

The researchers want “reciprocal” relationships with farmers as they gather information, Pilgeram said.

“Is what we’re seeing true to your reality or, if it’s sort of true, what context can you add?” are the sorts of questions they will ask, she said.

They hope to distribute a larger survey to women in ag in the Northwest in the next six months.

The information so far indicates women farmers are more diverse than normally assumed, but most are farming more conventionally than ordinarily assumed, Dentzman said.

“We tend to hear, ‘Women farmers are this, or women farmers are that,’” Pilgeram said. “Our research is saying, ‘Women farmers’ experiences are tied to what they’re growing, where they’re growing and their access to resources.’”