Women farmers earn about $58,000 a year—but they still outearn their male counterparts

Kriss Marion wasn't planning to become a farmer when she moved to Blanchardville, Wisconsin. The goal was to get out into green space with her family and be around farms, she tells CNBC Make It. But after working on farms in the area and growing her own garden, Marion took the plunge and opened a community supported agriculture operation (CSA) in 2007. Today, her farm, CircleM Market Farm, continues to grow for CSA, offers a bed and breakfast for guests and raises sheep and cows. "It's been really delightful to grow and change on this farm, and I feel like a rural place like this offers a lot of opportunities," says Marion. Marion is one of a growing number of women making a living running her own farm. In fact, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women farmers, ranchers and agricultural managers outearned their male counterparts in 2017, one of just 10 occupations in which that's the case. The weekly median salary for women in this field was $1,114. Men took home $963. According to the 2012 USDA Census of Agriculture, the most recent data available, women make up 30 percent of all farm operators in the United States. While the number of principal farm owners decreased slightly from the 2007 to 2012 census, the trend has gone up over the last decade, driven by a few key shifts in farming. More women today are in leadership positions in farming and agriculture. In addition, there has been a surge of women starting their own small farms, which has likely tipped the scale in women's favor when it comes to compensation...MORE