MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — Women in agriculture’s resilience to stress is the topic of a study underway by the University of Minnesota (UMN) Extension-Women in Ag Network. Along with Minnesota Agri-Women District 11 and the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center, the UMN Extension is currently collecting data from women involved in all facets of agricultural production to aid the development of new programming resources by gaining a better understanding of current stressors, including effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We did a similar survey in 2018-2019 but the last two years have been unprecedented in terms of the agricultural economy,” said Megan Roberts, assistant extension professor for UMN. “The survey is seeking information on increases in stressors, and women in agriculture’s resiliency and ways they manage these stressors. We hope to take what we learn from our participants and incorporate it into our educational programming.”

Women farmers, ranchers and other female agriculturists from throughout the Corn Belt and Plains States are eligible to participate in the survey. “We are interested in hearing from women from across the industry in agriculture,” said Roberts. “Not only farmers and ranchers but women who live on a farm, female ag lenders, ag researchers — the agriculture industry is very widespread, and we are interested in hearing from women in every aspect of the industry.”

While Roberts would not speculate on what she expects to hear from survey participants, she noted that the pandemic’s emotional and economic consequences are likely far-reaching. “We are really interested in getting that firsthand information from our survey participants. We do know that the pandemic has had a broad impact on women across all areas of society. It’s going to be interesting to see specifically what the pandemic’s long-term impact on agriculture is going to be, and letting women share their experiences in their own words,” she said. 

The UMN Extension’s online educational programming includes the “Cultivating Resiliency” series, which offers tips on weathering the economic and personal challenges presented by the pandemic and other factors. In addition to being used to bolster the extension’s educational programming, the survey’s results are expected to be shared in social media, academic networks and publications.

“Most importantly, we plan to take the information gleaned from women and offer information that hopefully the participants of the survey can utilize themselves,” said Roberts.

A similar survey open to farmers of either gender was conducted by the University of Illinois Extension from June to October of 2020, during the height of COVID-19 pandemic mitigations. Survey coordinator, University of Illinois assistant professor and extension specialist, Dr. Josie Rudolphi, reported the following observations from the survey:

“We are hearing from farmers who are angry because they can’t find a (market) for their cattle, or lost a market for their livestock. There was a lot of anxiety about getting a crop in. There is concern about remaining socially distant from employees or other farm workers,” Rudolphi said. “We were expecting those types of responses. But we are also hearing from farm parents who had added stress about trying to run a farm and homeschool their children at the same time, and maybe hold an off-farm job. We are hearing from farmers who are concerned about their health or the health of an aging parent.  Many are the same stressors that you might find among the non-farming segment of society.”

The UMN-led survey, which consists of an anonymous online questionnaire, began last week and will conclude on April 30. The survey takes around 10 minutes to complete; participants must be at least 18 years of age or older. Questions about the survey can be emailed to Roberts at meganr@umn.edu. To access the survey, visit www.z.umn.edu/resiliencysurvey.