Sigma Alpha is a national professional agricultural sorority designed to promote women in agriculture and to strengthen the bonds of friendship between them. The sorority was founded at the Ohio State University in 1978. Organized by the American Farm Bureau's Women's Committee, Food Check-Out Day commemorates the role that farmers play in the affordability of food in America. 42 states celebrated the day on February 9. On a global scale, women produce more than half of all of the food that is grown and in many regions of the world, and spend up to five hours per day collecting fuel, wood and water and up to four hours a day preparing food.
Agribusiness is a leading employer of women in developing countries.
However, women often receive lower wages than men for similar work or find that their employers often give their earnings to the male head of the household. To combat this trend, the US Agency for International Development actively supports the Gender in Agribusiness Program a best practices initiative that supports women employees in developing countries and enhances their productivity. The International Federation of Agricultural Producers, including its Standing Committee on Women in Agriculture, brings together 85 national farmers organizations from all over the world, representing about 500 million farmers. Rural women, mainly farmers, are at least 1.6 billion and represent more than a quarter of the total world population. According to the World Bank, worldwide, women play a critical role in the production of food for the household, in post-harvest activities, in livestock care, and increasingly, in cash cropping.