Voices of American Farm Women
from the Dec 2004 issue

The Photography of Cynthia Vagnetti

Cynthia Vagnetti's artful photography and oral histories are a tribute to the women who work each day to feed America and the world. Her works chronicle the lives of women and help to preserve their stories, families, lives and work.

Sustainable Agriculture
In the past twenty years, a growing movement known as sustainable agriculture has found an active following across rural and urban America. Those who are involved in the movement seek alternative solutions to the environmental, economic, and social concerns faced by farmers and rural communities.

Sustainable agricultural practices are based on an awareness of both natural and human resources. The viability of family farms, the health of the environment, and consideration of social issues for everyone involved in the food production system, from the farmer to the consumer, is part of the "systems approach" of sustainable agriculture.

The sustainable agricultural movement is [partly, largely] in response to dramatic changes in American agriculture in the years following World War II. Mechanization, chemical and pesticide use, specialization, and government policy encouraged maximum production. Fewer farmers could produce increasing amounts of food. This course has meant profound change for American farm families and their communities.

Amy Miller, an Iowa vegetable grower, reminds us of the underlying vision for sustainable agriculture, "A lot of farmers - either sustainable or conventional - we have one objective. To stay on the farm."

Women have been and continue to be active participants in the movement. Our views of farming and its influence on American life and culture have traditionally focused on the roles that men have played as farmers. However, female-run sustainable farms challenge traditional gender roles and farming practices.

Voices of American Farm Women presents a dynamic contemporary perspective on a diverse group of women and their relationship to the land. Their stories are told through both images and words, and narrate a multi-faceted view of work, family, and community. Photographer Cynthia Vagnetti has spent several years documenting women involved in sustainable agriculture through photography, video, and oral history.

Public appeal for Vagnetti's work has expanded, when in 2002 her seminal work on American farm women wassponsored by ExhibitsUSA to produce a formal exhibition. Based upon more than 40 videotaped oral history interviews, Voices of American Farm Women expresses the components of sustainable food systems and biodiverse farming practices. Through pictures, captions and six topic panels the following themes are covered: An introduction to sustainable agriculture; Listening to the land; Biodiversity; Farm and food connection; Entrepreneurship; and Education and social responsibility. It will travel from September 2004 to August 2008.

Voices of American Farm Women
Sponsored by ExhibitsUSA, a division of Mid-America Arts Alliance.
Touring 9/13/2004 - 8/16/2008.

September 13, 2004 - October 05, 2004
Moberly Area Council on the Arts
Moberly, Missouri

October 21, 2004 - November 30, 2004
Museum of Seminole County History
Sanford, Florida

December 15, 2004 - January 19, 2005
Garland County Library
Hot Springs, Arkansas

February 03, 2005 - March 10, 2005
Mesquite Arts Council
Mesquite, Texas

March 25, 2005 - April 30, 2005
Tulsa Community College SE Campus
Tulsa, Oklahoma

May 15, 2005 - June 20, 2005
Louisiana State University
Shreveport, Louisiana

September 01, 2005 - October 05, 2005
Texarkana Reg Arts & Humanities Council
Texarkana, Texas

October 21, 2005 - November 30, 2005
Stauth Memorial
Montezuma, Kansas

December 15, 2005 - March 10, 2006
Arlington Heights Historical Society
Arlington Heights, Illinois

February 03, 2007 - June 20,2007
Michigan State University Museum
East Lansing, Michigan

Photo Captions:
Cynthia Vagnetti's artful photography and oral histories are a tribute to the women who work each day to feed America and the world. Her works chronicle the lives of women and help to preserve their stories, families,
lives and work.

An Peischel, Chico, California, 1999
An grew up on a hog farm in Pennsylvania. She won first place in the 4H state tractor driving championship. She raises registered purebred Kiko goats and currently is a small rudiment specialist on rural farms in Tennessee. A holistic resource management instructor, An will tell you, "there isn't anything a person can't do with a goat. The rest is in management. It is creativity and innovation of man to use the goat in a holistic universe."

Judy Hageman, Belleville, Wisconsin, 2003
Not only does Judy raise vegetables 12 months of the year in hoop houses, but she is actively involved with the development of Dane County Farmers Market and the education of all individuals in accessing healthy fresh foodthrough local and regional food systems.

Cindy Dutcher, Goetzville, Michigan, 2003
Cindy and her husband John met in Detroit, Michigan and both knew they wanted to farm and produce food for their own consumption and for communities where access to fresh produce was sorely needed.

Muriel French, Mantorville, Minnesota, 2003
Muriel and her husband Dan operate a "grass dairy." Their herd grazes on crop and pasture land.

Quotes:

"I call it 'opportunity agriculture' because it's taking an animal - the goat - and being able to envision all the possible things you can do with a goat... fiber... meat... milk... yogurt... hides for drums... there's a lot of different things... to use the goats in a landscaping way... putting them in the Christmas trees and having them weed the area so we can increase the water, mineral and nutrient cycle for those trees."

" I wish I could fast-forward the camera to see what agriculture would be like in twenty years. There are so many grass-roots movements out there, so many people that care, so many people that want to turn things round...so how can the higher power not bring us all together and give us some sort of vision on how to do this. I believe that each of us in doing what we're doing, are already making a difference, a huge difference."

" This kind of agriculture is farming from your heart and your hands. It means you have to be really sensitive to the moods of the land and your animals. Alternative agriculture lets you be as individual as you are. John and I, we work real well together. We're really fortunate in that we came to a conclusion quite a few years ago that we didn't have men's work and women's work...we just had a lot of work and it all needed to be done. "

" Biodiversity in your soil means a lot of different organisms doing their thing, or a lot of different plants in a spot. It's better for the land, so it's got to be better for society. Diversity of society gives you many different things out there instead of having everyone doing the same thing.... I think if we don't take care of the creation that God has made and has given for us to take care of...there won't be a future for agriculture."