As Women’s History Month draws to a close, we wanted to talk about the hardworking women and minority farmers in Indianapolis and throughout Indiana. Our first example comes from a story that was written in the Chicago Tribune. The story highlights a couple, Anne and Ben Massie, a couple from Crown Point, Indiana who have recently entered the farming industry. They live on 11 acres, and grow vegetables, fruit, nuts and mushrooms. Anne is a part of an growing community of women farmers. The Tribune says that “According to the Indiana Department of Agriculture, the census found that while a majority of farmers in Indiana are male, the number of female producers grew by 30 percent from 2012 to 2017.
It also found there were more than 23,000 new and beginning farmers in 2017 and the number of minority-owned farms had also increased.” Suzanne Crouch, Indiana Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, states that she could not be happier about the growth of diversity in farming. Anne says that the recent uptick is a good thing for farming, and we need to see more of it. As more farmers reach retirement age, there needs to be more young people willing to step up!
Bruce Kettler, director of the state’s department of agriculture, confirms that we are trending upwards in terms of the amount of young farmers. He claims that he was “a little surprised to see a 12.3%, increase in the number of young producers in Indiana ages 35 and younger.” According to the Successful Farming Journal, the notion that women need to marry a man who is a farmer to get into farming, is not true. The article talked to Alex Templeton who is a third generation farmer from Missouri. She is a livestock farmer and is often met with many stereotypes online. Her response to this is “I think there’s a little bit of a stereotype that you have to marry someone in agriculture, as a woman. Or that you can’t do it by yourself. It’s often a husband and wife type of gig, and I love that. But, I’m unmarried, have no kids, and I bought my own farm and I have my own cows.” Locally, we have worked with many women and minority farmers.
One of them is the Three Sisters Garden, which is located at East 46th Street, Indianapolis. According to their website, they manage a half acre plot that lies within the Lawrence Community Garden. The manager of the garden, Cheri Hood, has been a gardener for more than ten years. She says on their website, “I took on this project to better serve my community, by offering organic produce at affordable prices to our neighbors. I also wanted to put into action the use of my Urban Agricultural Certificate from Purdue Extension.” The plot is responsible for growing corn, squash, and beans. Three Sisters Garden, along with many other women and minority ran farming enterprises, continue to empower the Indianapolis farming community.
To learn more on how we work with women and minority-owned farms, visit https://indyfoodpolicy.org/seed-to-store/
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