Champaign- In 2007, women operated one in ten farms in the United States, according to the US Census on Agriculture. Now it's farmer Jeanne instead of farmer Gene as women take on a bigger role on the farm. Jeanne Stierwalt loves her job managing a prom and pageant store. But it's not her only full time job.
"I take time off for harvest," says Stierwalt.
Come October, Stierwalt trades rows of dresses for rows of corn.
"Drive the combine in the fall, I'm running ahead of the planter, hauling chemicals," she says.
For years Steirwalt has worked alongside her husband on the family farm.
"You bounce ideas off each other, it makes it fun. You know what you can laugh," says Stierwalt.
No longer is it a farmer and his wife, but two farmers: one husband, one wife.
"It may be three people running this whole operation and if you slack off and don't do your job. You know, at the end of the night you've got to get those machines filled with fuel," says Stierwalt.
Wives have always assisted their husbands but now more than ever women are taking a bigger role when it comes to farming.
"You're driving equipment that is a, very expensive and b, huge. You know some people are like, 'how do you drive it?' you know, I don't know. I never thought about it," she says.
As the industry moves away from traditional stereotypes, women still face discrimination.
"Sometimes you're not taken as seriously. They question, 'well should you call your husband?' They don't say to the husbands, 'should you call your wives?' but that comes with the territory. I think that's any woman in a man's field," she says.
The number of women going into the agricultural field has grown steadily in recent years. According to the University of Illinois, 56 percent of students in the College of Agriculture are female.
"I don't think there is a traditional male occupation in agriculture any more. You see women in all aspects from the marketing end to education to farming and working on the farm everyday," says Kirk Builta with the Champaign County Farm Bureau.
And it shows. Of the 32 board members that make up the Champaign County Farm Bureau Board, 8 are women.
"That is a large number for many county farm bureaus. That just shows the leadership role that women have taken within our organization and with others and within agriculture in general," says Builta.
Back on the farm, Stierwalt's not afraid to get down and dirty but that doesn't mean giving up her feminine side.
"We don't wear coveralls all the time. We do our hair, we put on makeup, we all love high heels," says Stierwalt.
High heels, sure, just maybe not out in the fields.
Stierwalt works full time at the prom store January through May, but once planting starts she works part-time through the harvest.
Reported by Kate Springer.
Women Take Bigger Role On Farm
