Supporting Agricultural Resilience

The Value of Women Farmers' Communication Practices

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2020.094.010

Keywords:

Women Farmers, Resilience Communication, Sustainable Agriculture, Community of Practice

Abstract

While women in the United States (U.S.) are increasingly entering into or being recognized for their role as farm operators, researchers argue that women farmers have been and continue to be under-recognized and researched. In the face of increasing environmental and financial challenges, as well as a variety of challenges related to domestic life, women farmers remain resilient. Buzzanell’s (2010) resilience communication theory suggests that forming and maintaining communication networks is essential to resilience processes. Drawing on interviews with 35 U.S. women farmers, we argue that communication networking is valuable to food systems; specifically, these practices contributed to and reified the resilience of the individual farmers, their farm business, and the greater sustainable agriculture sector. Implications for women farmers as a community of practice, as well as organizations serving these populations, are discussed.

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Author Biography

Sarah N. Heiss, University of Vermont

Department of Community Development and Applied Economics

University of Vermont Agriculture & Life Sciences logo

Published

2020-07-22

How to Cite

Daigle, K., & Heiss, S. (2020). Supporting Agricultural Resilience: The Value of Women Farmers’ Communication Practices. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 9(4), 45–63. https://doi.org/10.5304/jafscd.2020.094.010

Issue

Section

More Than Value$ in the Food System Peer-reviewed Papers