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analysis from the U.S. 

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providing timely information on economic and policy 

issues related to agriculture, 

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and rural America. www.ers.usda.gov

United States Department of Agriculture

A report summary from the Economic Research Service April 2013

Find the full report at 

www.ers.usda.gov/

publications/eib-economic-informationbulletin/eib111.aspx

What Is the Issue?

The share of U.S. farms operated by women nearly tripled over the past three decades, from 5 

percent in 1978 to 14 percent by 2007. Although there have always been women farm operators, 

national-level statistics to track their numbers and examine their characteristics were not available until the Census of Agriculture began asking for principal farm operators’ gender in 1978. 

Using census data from 1978 through 2007, this report provides detailed information about women 

farmers and the types of farms they operate. 

What Are the Study Findings?

In this report, “women-operated farms” are defined as those whose principal operator—the individual 

most responsible for the day-to-day decisions of the farm (or ranch)—is a woman. Based on this definition, results of the analysis were as follows: 

• Women-operated farms increased in all sales classes. Between 1982 and 2007, the number 

of women-operated farms grew from 121,600 to 306,200, with increases in all sales classes 

(measured in 2007 dollars). In contrast, the number of men-operated farms declined by 220,800, 

with only the largest and smallest sales classes ($500,000 or more and less than $1,000) experiencing growth. Some of the increase in the lower sales classes, however—for both womenand men-operated farms—was due to extensive methodological changes in the Census of 

Agriculture, introduced over time to include more small farms.

• Most women-operated farms are very small. Since 1982, a majority of women-operated 

farms have had annual sales of less than $10,000. Most of the growth in the number of womenoperated farms occurred in that sales class, increasing from three-fifths of all women-operated 

farms in 1982 to three-fourths by 2007. In both years, the share of women-operated farms with 

sales less than $10,000 was about 20 percentage points more than the share of men-operated 

farms with sales that low. 

• Five percent of women-operated farms (15,400 farms) had sales of $100,000 or more in 

2007. Most of these farms specialized in grains and oilseeds, specialty crops, poultry and eggs, 

beef cattle, or dairy. The poultry and egg specialization alone accounted for roughly half of 

women-operated farms with sales of $1 million or more.

• Nearly half of farms operated by women specialized in grazing livestock. In 2007, 45 percent 

of women-operated farms specialized in raising beef cattle other than in feedlots (23 percent), 

horses and other equines (17 percent), or sheep and goats (6 percent). Most of these farms, however, 

were very small, accounting for only 16 percent of sales by all women-operated farms. 

Characteristics of Women Farm 

Operators and Their Farms

Robert A. Hoppe and Penni Korb

Robert A. Hoppe

Penni Korb

Economic

Research

Service

Economic 

Information

Bulletin 

Number 111

April 2013

United States Department of Agriculture

Characteristics of Women Farm 

Operators and Their Farms
www.ers.usda.gov

• Women-operated farms specializing in poultry, specialty crops, grains, or dairy had the most sales. Although these 

farms totaled only 21 percent of women-operated farms, they generated 72 percent of sales from all women’s farms.

• Counting secondary operators increases the number of women farmers to 1 million. In addition to the principal 

operator, many farms have one or more secondary operators involved in daily decisions for the farm. When all women 

operators, principal and secondary, were tallied for the 2007 census, about 1 million were counted as farmers—up 

from the 306,200 principal operators and totaling 30 percent of all U.S. farmers. Most secondary women farm operators (96 percent) were on farms whose principal operator was a man, generally the woman’s husband. 

How Was the Study Conducted?

Using data from the Census of Agriculture, the authors tracked long-term trends for women farm operators and their 

farms from 1978 (or from 1982 for data items not available from the 1978 census) through 2007, the most recent year 

available. To examine current characteristics of women-operated farms, the authors used data from the 2007 census. 

The other major data source for the analysis was the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), an annual 

USDA survey jointly conducted by the National Agricultural Statistical Service (NASS) and the Economic Research 

Service (ERS). The ARMS provides information not included in the Census of Agriculture about farm finances and the 

operator’s household income and educational attainment.