Lyn Garling raises pasture-fed chickens, ducks, and turkeys, as well as organic pork and grass-fed beef and veal at Over the Moon Farms in Centre County.

In contrast, June Hertzler’s MooEcho Farms falls on the other end of several scales: she’s been partnering with her husband, Duane, in dairy farming since 1972, and farming, for her, is about a very traditional lifestyle and values. “My first love is farming,” she relates. “My children were in the milking parlor in their playpen, and we taught them to feed calves when they were young. We have beautiful, green, rolling hills. In the summer, I enjoy mowing and raking hay to be harvested. It’s wonderful to be out there on the tractor. And it’s wonderful to have your own business and be your own boss. I like being responsible for failure and success. As a woman on a farm, I love to work with the soil, plants, and animals. I really liked being at home with my young children all day because I know they were getting the ethics and values you can learn on a farm as we work; I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

Hertzler and Hart-Gonzalez have quite a few contrasts in lifestyle and history. But they and many others embody a quiet revolution in agriculture that portends hope and innovation.

Hart-Gonzalez pulls netting over her blueberry bushes. She is hoping to establish the first certified organic farm in Jefferson County—a far cry from her previous life as an actress and educator.

The numbers are plentiful and fascinating: the federal 2002 Census of Agriculture shows that the number of U.S. farms declined by almost 4 percent (more than 86,000 farms) since the previous census, continuing a trend that has extended from the 1950s. But women farmers as principal operators have actually increased over the same time period—another long-standing trend. Across the nation, as the number of farms continued a decades-long decline, women who call themselves principal operators increased to 237,819 from 209,784 in 1997. In addition, many women now are identified as co-operators of U.S. farms (i.e., jointly operating the farm with someone else). The 2002 Census of Agriculture is the first to identify multiple operators of farms.

Preliminary state data from the Census of Agriculture showed that 5,998 Pennsylvania women identified themselves as principal operators of their farms, up nearly 20 percent from 5,009 in 1997—even though the number of farms dropped to 58,209 from 60,222 in the same period.