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'Herfields' shows struggles of area's women farmers
By ALDRICH TAN/Democrat Correspondent

December 11, 2005

When the UC Small Farm Center first approached Vacaville farmer Robin Lynde for an interview, she said she presumed it was for a monthly newsletter.

But Lynde, owner of the Meridian Jacobs sheep farm, said she was pleasantly surprised to find out she would be part of a book honoring the state's women farmers.

"Outstanding in their Fields: California's Women Farmers" honors 17 women farmers, including three in Yolo County, said Desmond Jolly, director of the UC Small Farm program and center located at UC Davis.

The book is available through the UC Small Farm Center, the UCD Bookstore, The Avid Reader in Davis, Tower Books in Sacramento and possibly the Next Chapter in Woodland, Jolly said.

"It's time to highlight women's role in farming and give it bigger visibility on the public stage," he said.

The book project is based on the creation of the women's subset of the center's Risk Management and Education for California Farmers and Ranchers group four years ago, Jolly said. Traditionally, women are civilization's original farmers.

"But when the agribusiness shifted to tractors and mass agricultural production, Jolly said, "men took over and agriculture assumed a male face."

Pressures of agricultural globalization and a growing market for organic products are pushing for the visibility of artisinal agriculture, Jolly said. "Artisinal" agriculture is small-scale producers who directly and manually produce their own agricultural products.

And women farmers such as Robin Lynde are among the state's leaders in the production of artisinal agriculture.

Lynde said she graduated from UC in 1977 with a degree in range management. She worked as a range scientist in Utah at a time of discrimination and tension

"Women and minorities were only starting to enter those fields so it was very tough being one of the pioneers," Lynde said.

Lynde said she started the Meridian Jacobs farm seven years ago. She raises fifty registered Jacob sheep and offers spinning, dyeing and weaving classes. Lynde processes her wool at Yolo Wool Products in Woodland.

"I love staying at home and doing something that makes me happy and also makes a living," she said. "I can also spend more time with my children."

Lynde said she found out about the Small Farms Center and the women's farmers group through her friend and local rancher Pat Meade.

Meade owns West Valley Alpacas, an alpaca ranch close to Esparto. She breeds alpacas and sells their fiber, yarn and clothing. Meade said she also offers classes in spinning, weaving, knitting, dyeing, felting and other fiber arts.

Before she started her ranch, Meade worked dozens of jobs such as software engineer and an aircraft flight instructor. She bought her first alpaca in 1994.

"It's empowering work for myself," she said. "I love working with animals."

Another noteworthy Yolo County woman farmer is Ann Kormos, Jolly said. Kormos was a harvest manager for the Terra Firma Organic Farm in Winters.

"To assume the position of farm manager for field workers, particularly, supervising a lot of men doing fieldwork is a job that requires not only direction but also a lot of diplomacy," he said. "It is an achievement for a young woman like Kormos."

Seven of the women honored in the book, including Lynde and Meade, attended a book reception on Thursday evening at the Recreation Pool Lodge on the UC Davis campus.

The women farmers honored in the book displayed their homemade products at the reception. Phaedra LaRocca presented organic sulfur-free wine from LaRocca Vineyards near Chico. Talibah Al-Rafiq from Calveras County produces and sells cashmere yarns. Mary Orr, also from Calveras County, makes her own butter, cheeses, bread and pastries, soaps and yarn.

Eiva Griffths, 58, said she found the event and the book empowering. She works at interim sales at ING financial services in Sacramento. Griffiths said she found out about the event through Soroptimist International of Metropolitan Sacramento.

"It was surprising to know that women can move from desk jobs to running a farm," she said.

Griffiths said she helps women establish financial stability for themselves.

"These women in agriculture inspired me as a woman to continue doing my very best in the work that I am doing," she said.