Farming Is Female: Twenty Women Shaking Up the Field

This middle grade nonfiction book dives deep into what food justice is by showing how farmers, homesteaders, and policymakers are providing healthy and affordable food to people right where they live.

Who grew the food that you’re eating for dinner? Most kids in the United States don’t know the answer to this question. Through stories based on personal interviews with 20+ women farmers around the country, climate journalist Rachel Sarah answers this question and more for young readers in this book.

Farming is Female also tells the bigger story about food with a lens on equity, including the struggles of undocumented workers, the shortage of fresh produce in low-income neighborhoods, and the food justice advocates who are feeding communities. This book renounces the played-out image of the American farmer as Old McDonald and highlights what women farmers are doing to rise up for the climate. It will also provide readers with inspiration, activities, action items, and back matter about everything from how to start your own garden to how to prepare favorite recipes.

Farmers being profiled include Suzanne Willow, Lanita Witt, Ivy Walls, Leah Penniman, Saara Nafici, Tepfirah Haana Rushdan, Kanchan Dawn Hunter, H. Nieto-Friga, María Inés Catalán, Amber Bell, Joanna Letz, Adrionna Fike, Leah Atwood, Dr. Gail Myers, Sheila Tupua-Sulu, Yemi Amu, Elizabeth Couse, Ana Elisa Pérez Quintero, Leslie Wiser, Katie Willis, and Layel Camargo.

Rachel Sarah is a 2022 Kiplinger Fellow, one of twenty-two journalists from around the world selected for the Public Affairs Journalism’s inaugural class in climate change reporting. She is the author of Girl Warriors: How 25 Young Activists Are Saving the Earth, which earned a starred review from Kirkus Reviews, and Climate Champions: 15 Women Fighting for Your Future. Most recently, in March 2022, Rachel was the keynote speaker at Broward County, Florida’s Climate Summit, where she spoke to 7,000 students about climate justice. Rachel is also one of the Planet Stewards at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). She currently lives in the Bay Area in California.