Watch CBS News

Female Farmers A Growing Trend

(CBS) -- Next time you drive by a huge farm, or pick up produce at the supermarket you might wonder who's growing local fruits and veggies. The answer could be a woman, reports WBBM's Veronica Carter

Ruth Zeldenrust farms 80 acres in Chicago Heights. She's just one of a growing number of female farmers. There are more than a million women working on farms in the US and the number of farms owned solely by women has double in the last 30 years.

Zeldenrust is a member of the Cook County Farm Bureau. She grows flowers and vegetables for restaurants in greenhouses and in the fields and has been running the farm on her own since 1988 and says it's hard work balancing the business and three daughters but everyone works.

Podcast

She says it's hard work, sometimes frustrating, but most of the time rewarding.

"When the weather permits, we're out there until the sun goes down, literally," Zeldenrust said.

It's mostly manual labor, but a lot of bookkeeping and negotiating sales too. And it's very dirty but she doesn't mind.

"You are either from the dirt or you're not," Zeldenrust said.

Women who run farms produce $13 billion worth of produce every year in the U.S.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.