Opening Remarks by Jill Long Thompson
Conference Chair and Rural Development Under Secretary
Before Delegates of the Second International Conference
on Women in Agriculture
Opening Remarks by Mary Salce
Convener of the First International Conference
on Women in Agriculture
Before Delegates of the Second International Conference
on Women in Agriculture
June 28, 1998
The role that women play in feeding the world has been a passion of mine for most, if not all, of my life. I am very proud of who we are and what we do, and I believe that we are one of the best kept international secrets. When our urban friends hear the phrase "women feeding the world," they may think of women going to the market, buying groceries, and preparing meals for their families. When we hear the phrase, we think of women planting the fields, harvesting a crop, and marketing their commodities. We know that whether it is a developed or a developing country, millions of women around the world are producing the food that feeds our people. Is there any profession that is more important?--I think not. That’s why I’m here and I suspect that’s why you are here. The world is filled with unsung heroes like the people who fill this room. Fully one fourth of the world population is rural women. Yet in many societies, women do not have the right to own land. I think that must change. In some societies women do not have the right to keep the money they earn. I think that must change, and even in the most developed countries, women in agriculture are not recognized as the professional business women that we are. In fact, sometimes we are not recognized at all, and that must change, too.
All of us assembled here have come to this conference with different experiences, expectations and ideas. We are united by our professional interests, yet we are each unique. My mother is a farmer and my grandmothers were farmers, but no two of us are the same, and throughout this week we will discover differences in opinions and ideas among ourselves. But, by coming together in the cooperative spirit of this forum, we will be able to expand and advance opportunities not just for ourselves but also for our rural sisters and daughters around the world. I believe that it is the cooperative spirit that will allow us to achieve in ways that our mothers and grandmothers could only have imagined. In fact, it is through the use of the cooperative approach to business that many women have succeeded against significant odds.
Let me share with you several cooperative success stories that I think are reflective of the initiative and the working together spirit of women around the world and here in the United States. One of my favorite examples is the Smith Island Crab Meat Cooperative. For those of you who are not familiar with Smith Island, it is a small speck of land in the Chesapeake Bay, off the coast of Maryland. It can only be reached by a boat. The residents there have always earned their living from the sea. In recent years, as some fish species have declined, the income earned from crab meat picked and packed by the women of the island has become vital to the island’s economy. It was a cottage industry that was threatened to be shut down because the women were performing the work in small sheds adjacent to their homes, and the sheds did not meet state food safety standards. Janice Marshall, one of the women of the island, is the person who led a movement to organize a private sector cooperative that could support a state of the art picking and packing plant on the island. And it passes all food safety standards, and let me tell you that they market some of the best crab that you will ever eat. This women-owned cooperative is a model for what can be achieved when people make a decision to work together and to pool resources. Mrs. Marshall will be leading one of the break-out sessions on Tuesday.
Another recently formed cooperative is the Dawson Workers-Owned Cooperative in Dawson, Georgia. This business was formed after the 200 women employed at a textile plant were thrown out of work when their employer defaulted on a loan. Well, the women got together, formed a private sector cooperative to purchase the plant and today are successfully back in business manufacturing clothing distributed by major retailers around the United States.
Another cooperative story that I like is one that probably comes a little closer to home for me because it’s from the midwest. Its a story of Susan Crane who is a dairy farmer from Wisconsin who served on the board of Foremost Farms which is a dairy cooperative. Not too long ago she stepped off the board and now serves as a consumer promotion manager which allows her to educate the public on the nutritional value of dairy products. Because not only is she a dairy farmer, she is also a registered nurse, and who better than someone with those qualifications to serve in that capacity. A capacity that historically would have been held by someone other than a woman.
The United States Department of Agriculture has made available for you, and you should find it in your packet, the March/April issue of “Rural Cooperatives” magazine which features women owned cooperatives. I hope that you find this issue both enjoyable and informative.
I believe that the cooperative approach to business holds great potential for women involved in agriculture. Whether it is an enterprise that adds value, that markets, that supplies or does any of a number of other things, this approach allows women to gain power by joining together and pooling resources. I also believe the cooperative spirit is what will allow us to continue to make advances in opportunities for women in rural communities.
This week, as we discuss, debate, and plan for our futures, I am hopeful that the cooperative spirit will prevail. We will not always agree with everything we hear in the speeches or in the break-out sessions. My mother is one of the brightest women that I have ever met, and she and I don’t always agree on everything. But I make only one request. Even when we disagree let us make sure that we show support for those who have demonstrated the commitment to our cause.
This conference is important because it focuses international attention on the millions of women around the world who are involved in agriculture. It is also important because it provides a setting for sharing and for learning. At the end of the week I expect to be better prepared to be a more effective businesswoman and policy maker. I think the conference is going to provide that for me and I hope that it provides the same for you. But even more important than what is learned at this conference is how we follow up after the conference. We must make sure that we continue to communicate and to network long into the future. Toward that goal I am committing to provide resources during the next year, in my office, to publish a newsletter and to provide a web site. During the year, I expect that the leaders of this conference can independently make some decisions on how we might most effectively proceed. Then on July 1, 1999 we can turn that responsibility of communication over to the entity that is formed. The future holds so much promise for us if we work together to expand opportunities for ourselves, our sisters and our daughters and I am truly, truly honored to be among you.
I have to tell you that one of the things that I enjoy most about the work I do is the many wonderful people I have the pleasure of meeting. The woman I am about to introduce to you has impressed me as much as anyone I have ever met. She is a dairy farmer from Sale, which is located in eastern Victoria, Australia. She and her husband, Reno, are partners in their farming operation in which her responsibilities range from financial management, to milking, to crop harvesting, to animal husbandry, to tree planting -- the list goes on and I am sure that all of you can relate to that long list of diversified responsibilities. She has been involved in agriculture for twenty eight years, during which time her knowledge of and commitment to family farming have grown. However her interest and commitment are broader than her own farming operation. She cares about opportunities for women producers all around the world. Her devotion led her to convene the First Conference on Women in Agriculture four years ago in Melbourne, Australia. To say that the conference was a success would be an understatement. Almost 900 participants from 33 countries attended. But that success was not enough for this lady. She immediately began working toward sustained networking for women involved in agriculture and decided a second conference was very important. Mary came to the United States earlier this year and spent a considerable amount of time with me and others discussing the second conference. In fact, she even traveled to North Carolina and to Texas to attend women’s roundtables that were held in order to gain input on what topics needed to be addressed at the second conference and what the conference should focus on. She has done all of this with grace and poise. She has done all of this with finesse, with a total commitment to women in agriculture and the rural communities in which they live. It has been a real honor for me working with Mary and I know I speak for all of us when I say, "Thank you Mary Salce, for all that you have done." It is a pleasure to introduce to you, Mary Salce.
(Remarks by Mary Salce) Thank you, Jill.
... for the First International Conference on Women in Agriculture. We met to claim recognition for our contribution to agriculture, to claim our place in decision making bodies and to build networks. The first conference called "Farming for our Future" was a landmark event for Australian agriculture and rural women. It gave women the opportunity to form networks and build a strong foundation.
Building on this foundation, the U.S. government is taking rural and agricultural women’s movement into a new dimension with this, our second conference, and I love the title "Women Coming Together to Feed the World." Congratulations to all involved -- the President’s Interagency Council, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Under Secretary Jill Long-Thompson, Leanne Powell, Quinton Wilform, Robin Bailey and their team ... after two years of planning by a voluntary committee of 40 people. These people came from all areas of Australia, some from cities, some from farms, some from rural towns. We had to close registration at 860 people from 33 different countries. They packed Melbourne University’s conference facilities. That conference was different from any other agriculture conference ever held before. We learned, we made friends, we networked and we had fun, lots of it. That is what’s going to happen here in Washington, women doing things differently. Some other aspects stood out. One was how much we had in common with our peers from other countries and how much we could learn from each other. Despite our different roles in agriculture, our experiences as rural women were similar. We understood the pressures of the multiple roles, and we were anxious about the future that we were paving for our children. We shared similar concerns about family farming, declining rural populations and low morale. Our widened community commitments and environmental concerns breached language and cultural differences. The conference evaluation revealed a widespread lack of self-esteem and confidence among women. They wanted a voice in decision making that affected their communities but lacked the confidence to make themselves heard. One of the strongest messages from the first conference was that women can make a difference both to their own lives and to agriculture generally. The first conference outcome forms part of the Australian government’s recommendation to the fourth world conference on women in Beijing in 1995. As a result of the first conference we started the foundation for Australian agricultural women which has broken new ground in providing educational and leadership opportunities for rural women.
At the salute for the Australian lunch tomorrow, you will receive this booklet which will give you more details of the outcomes of the first conference. It will also provide details on a special project called "Uniting our Rural Communities." "Uniting our Rural Communities" involved more than 200 women from remote parts of two Australian states, Victoria and Queensland. This project usually acts as a focus to provide schools which are being used by women to improve their farms, businesses and communities. The learning experience occurred outside the classroom in parks, public halls, workshops and paddocks. Many women today are fulfilling the dreams they didn’t have the confidence to do previously. The project also raised community issues that have been taken to the Australian government’s business and industry. This project is now going to other parts of Australia and we would like to share it with women around the world. Come and see the exhibit in the Ambassador’s Room tomorrow or late today.
Tomorrow at the Salute for the Australian luncheon we will convince you that women working together can truly start a significant change. At the Australian conference, American women made up the biggest delegation. We Australians are delighted to return this compliment today in Washington with about 140 Aussies here. Each of us has a different reason for attending this conference and different things we want to take away. Since 1994 we have taken the first steps in getting the world to see women differently. We have been attracting increased media attention through the views of rural women. Views which often bring a different perspective. We have been seeking recognition for the need for women in decision making on industry and government boards and acknowledgment of women’s work. Why is this important? Greater diversity is needed in agriculture decision making. Women can provide this essential ingredient.
The evaluation from the first conference showed that women viewed farming not in economic terms but also recognize social and environmental implications. We call it the "three-legged stool model." From this perspective, if we want agriculture to survive, and rural communities to thrive, we need to look beyond measuring our work in purely economic terms. Economics is the first leg of the stool. But which view of economics should prevail? There’s hardly a country in the world in which farmers determine the prices of what they produce. In your countries and mine, farmers are price takers and not price makers. The land is the second leg of the stool. If it isn’t healthy we have nothing to leave for generations to come. By working with the land, we are environmentalists. Once this term was not favored by many Australians farmers but the land care has changed attitudes. Land care is a grassroots organization developed of women which now spreads throughout urban and rural Australia. Many farmers have embraced land care because they have seen that by being more environmentally friendly they can improve their economic bottom lines. In Australia land care groups fight salinity, replace trees, and produce water supplies making many farms and regions better places to live. We need to keep showing people that environmentalists and farmers can be the same. The third and most important leg of the stool is people, that’s us. If we do not have healthy rural communities, what’s the point? Unless government makes real contribution to the maintenance and improvement of rural community infrastructure, problems will increase in the millennium. Like nature itself, life should be in balance. A three-legged stool can’t do it’s job if the legs are uneven. So too, in agriculture decision making we need to balance the economic, environmental and social bottom lines. In my country, sadly, these vital factors are out of balance at the moment. I will share with you an example. Perhaps some of you know a similar situation. In my part of Victoria, Gippsland, we have many natural resources, oil and gas just off shore, rich coal fields, timber, tourism and fishing industries. We have farming and water supplies. But what is all this wealth doing to our community? Very little. Most goes out of the region, and so do the profits. Most of water goes to the capitol city of Melbourne, as does the value added from many of our industries.
Within the past two weeks, we have gone from our worst drought in 100 years to the worst flood of the century. These natural disasters and low commodity prices have caused devastation in farm earnings which in turn has led to further job loses, less money in the community, higher unemployment, greater movement of the people to the cities and worse, a low morale throughout the community. This low morale has left people of the land feeling hopeless. We have seen a tragic rise in suicide. Rural health systems are suffering. Government services are closing down, and our young and older people lack support. Women so often hold these communities and families together. But many of them are feeling abandoned. Governments are quick to embrace those works such as the level playing field and globalization. But they don’t always erect safety nets for the grassroots farmers and rural dwellers who are often the victims of change. When we held our first conference, we heard from women in Africa, India, Asia who are small scale farmers. These women were fighting a double battle. Not only were they constrained by being small, but they were considered second rate in their own society. We all have our barriers to break down and battles to win.
The networks we build here this week can improve trade relationships in many ways between our countries. We will become more aware of how cultural trade in one country can affect a farmer in another. A network built here can help us find ways to improve agriculture so that we are all winning. We have four days to build our knowledge and networks to new heights. We need more than ever to strengthen our collective voice. We need to find ways to make voices heard as decision makers, to ensure a balanced agricultural livelihood for all, economically, environmentally and socially. My challenge to each of you is -- how will you use our time to make your communities better placed? Four years ago in Melbourne, many of us began to understand that confidence and working together began to have an impact. Today, we know that networking is working. This week we will listen to ideas and of course express our own. Then we will go home with the challenge of shaping our economy, society and caring for our environment. I have no recipe on how to do this. Make your own opportunity to have an input. Simply for each of us to be here, today, is the opportunity of a lifetime. It is up to each one of us to make the most of this conference for the benefit of ourselves and individuals. President Clinton himself sent a message for us in 1995, prior to the Beijing conference, in announcing the formation of his Interagency Council on Women. He sighted the message which rural and agricultural women understand in their daily lives. We don’t intend to walk away from it when it’s over. We will be walking forward into the next millennium. More governments and industries will be listening harder, much harder, to what we are saying because they have begun to recognize just how much we have to offer. Please join me in congratulating the United States and Jill Long Thompson for hosting this conference and so helping all women committed to the future of agriculture, improve our world.
(Continued Remarks by Jill Long Thompson) She is a wonderful role model for rural agricultural women around the world.
Earlier this year I had the privilege of traveling to Spain to meet with Spanish women in preparation for this conference and I met some wonderful, wonderful leaders in my travels. We had an opportunity to travel, not just to Madrid, but outside of Madrid, into Seguobia where we held a town meeting that was attended by about 500 women from all over world Spain. That was a wonderful experience but I must tell you also that everywhere I went I heard about our next speaker. Everyone spoke so highly of this woman and it really is a pleasure and an honor for me to have her participating in this conference and a real honor for me to be able to introduce her. Concepcion Dancausa Trevino is an attorney and she has spent significant time focusing on corporate law and laws governing Spanish participation in the European union. She has also worked at the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Labor. She currently serves as the Director General at the Women’s Institute. As Director General, she has focused on a number of social issues that impact women. I have to say that Ms. Dancausa is one of those people who when you read through her resume you realize that she has done so much that you feel as if you need a rest just reading about it. But I know of her work, as I said, not only from reading about her accomplishments but I’ve also witnessed them first hand -- and not just from hearing about her, but in the visits I made while I was in Spain. And I must say that my favorite stop in terms of economic issues was when I visited a dried flower cooperative in world Spain. Not only were the products that were produced beautiful but it was probably the best smelling plant I have ever been in, in my life. I know that Ms. Dancausa's talk today will be well received and I am very pleased that she is able to be with us this week. Please join me in welcoming Ms. Dancausa.