In the darkness of the 4 a.m. sky, Jean Haldeman hops out of bed, ambles over to the barns, wakes the cows and gets to work milking.
This was an everyday occurrence for Haldeman (freshman-agricultural science) over the summer, who worked on her family's dairy farm.
And it's a window into Penn State's growing percentage of women in the College of Agricultural Sciences, which is at its highest rate since 1990. According to Penn State's university-wide fall 2007 enrollment numbers, there are 2,507 students in the College of Agricultural Sciences. Of those students, 46 percent are women.
These numbers follow the national trend seen in the latest census released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2002, noting that in Pennsylvania, the overall number of farms dropped 3.5 percent, but the number of women operators grew 21 percent. Nationally, 27 percent of farm operators are women, according to the 2002 census, which has the most recent data available.
In trying to answer for this rapid increase, Linda Moist, Penn State senior extension associate and a farm owner herself, said the reason is three-fold.
"There are the widows coming from a farming family who never planned to be farming on their own. There are the interested young women who are involved in sustainable agriculture and direct marketing -- and women my age who have saved up money to start a new farm from their other jobs," she said.
Rebecca Detwiler, president of Penn State's Collegiate FFA, said she sees a change in the face of agriculture today.
"I think that agriculture is shifting from the traditional family farming to a more science-based farming with people being more worldly and with a business background," she said.
Founded in 1928, the National FFA Organization, formerly known as the Future Farmers of America, is a youth organization that supports and promotes agricultural education, according to FFA's Web site.
The organization's history highlights the stigma that used to impede women interested in farming, Penn State's Collegiate FFA Secretary Alex Lauffer said.
There are 20 majors in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, something that underlines the diversity of the field, said Melanie Kammerer (freshman-agroecology).
Kammerer grew up on a farm, but said many students with non-agriculture backgrounds are finding interest in the field.
"Farming is like an applied science. I can learn something in chem class and then see that I am actually doing it in the fields," she said.
