Statement on California Women in Agriculture Resolution

Apr 05, 2022

By Caitlin Joseph

American Farmland Trust applauds the passage of California’s Women in Agriculture Resolution (ACR-158), championed by AFT and sponsored by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (District 4), the first of its kind in the nation.

Although underrepresented, women have always been crucial to the success of California’s farms and ranches. In 2017, women represented only 37 percent of California’s total producers, placing the state not even in the top ten in the U.S. for its proportion of women producers. Further, women and farmers of color receive disproportionate federal funds, which support California conservation, with only 14 percent of NRCS conservation practice incentive contracts going to white women and two percent to non-white women between 2015-2020.

This resolution elevates awareness of the diverse and critical roles women play in California agriculture, as well as some of the disparities they experience. It specifically cites women’s increasing leadership roles as land managers, farmland owners and advocates for sound agricultural policies, as well as the growing and critical presence of women as farm laborers, urban agriculture producers, and tribal producers. It further notes that formal participation of women in agriculture is historically high, with female enrollment numbers in agricultural programs at land-grant universities across the nation outpacing those of males since 2009.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.