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The invisible labor and multidimensional impacts of negotiating childcare on farms

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  • Andrea Rissing

    (The Ohio State University)

  • Shoshanah Inwood

    (The Ohio State University)

  • Emily Stengel

    (Independent Scholar)

Abstract

Social science inquiries of American agriculture have long recognized the inextricability of farm households and farm businesses. Efforts to train and support farmers, however, often privilege business realm indicators over social issues. Such framings implicitly position households as disconnected from farm stress or farm success. This article argues that systematically tracing the pathways between farm households and farm operations represents a potentially powerful inroad towards identifying effective support interventions. We argue childcare arrangements are an underrecognized challenge through which farm household dynamics directly influence agricultural production. We draw on interviews and focus group data with farmers in the Northeastern United States to understand how farmer–parents access and negotiate childcare. Farmer–parents value raising children on farms, but express reluctance to expect current or future labor from them. Years with young children thus represent an especially vulnerable phase during a farm’s trajectory. We identify and analyze social, economic, and cognitive pathways through which childcare impacts farm operations. Social pathways include relationship tensions and gendered on-farm divisions of labor; economic pathways include farm layout and structure; cognitive pathways include how farmers think about and plan for their operations. Explicitly acknowledging such issues can better equip farmer–parents to anticipate and plan for conflicting demands on their time.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Rissing & Shoshanah Inwood & Emily Stengel, 2021. "The invisible labor and multidimensional impacts of negotiating childcare on farms," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(2), pages 431-447, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:38:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s10460-020-10162-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-020-10162-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Elizabeth E. Davis & Deana Grobe & Roberta B. Weber, 2010. "Rural–Urban Differences in Childcare Subsidy Use and Employment Stability," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 32(1), pages 135-153.
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    4. Adam Calo, 2018. "How knowledge deficit interventions fail to resolve beginning farmer challenges," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 35(2), pages 367-381, June.
    5. Williams Shanks, Trina R. & Robinson, Christine, 2013. "Assets, economic opportunity and toxic stress: A framework for understanding child and educational outcomes," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 154-170.
    6. Mildred Warner, 2009. "(Not) Valuing Care: A Review of Recent Popular Economic Reports on Preschool in the US," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 73-95.
    7. Davis, Elizabeth E. & Li, NaiChia, 2009. "Regional Variation in Child Care Prices: A Cross-State Analysis," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 39(01), pages 1-15.
    8. Shoshanah Inwood & Emily Stengel, 2020. "Working households: Challenges in balancing young children and the farm enterprise," Community Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(5), pages 499-517, October.
    9. Susan Donath, 2000. "The Other Economy: A Suggestion for a Distinctively Feminist Economics," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 115-123.
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    Cited by:

    1. İlkay Unay-Gailhard & Mark A. Brennen, 2022. "How digital communications contribute to shaping the career paths of youth: a review study focused on farming as a career option," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(4), pages 1491-1508, December.
    2. Sophie Kelmenson, 2023. "Between the farm and the fork: job quality in sustainable food systems," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(1), pages 317-358, March.
    3. Carly E. Nichols, 2024. "Being a woman with the “skills of a man”: negotiating gender in the 21st century US Corn Belt," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 41(3), pages 1053-1068, September.
    4. Adam Calo & Rosalind Corbett, 2024. "New entrant farming policy as predatory inclusion: (Re)production of the farm through generational renewal policy programs in Scotland," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 41(4), pages 1335-1351, December.
    5. Vega-Martinez, Andrés & Cialdella, Nathalie & Andrieu, Nadine, 2024. "Understanding farms trajectories methods to build sustainable futures on pioneer fronts: Lessons from a systematic literature review and a framework proposal," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    6. Rina Vuciterna & Giordano Ruggeri & Chiara Mazzocchi & Sara Manzella & Stefano Corsi, 2024. "Women’s entrepreneurial journey in developed and developing countries: a bibliometric review," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-34, December.
    7. Monica Fisher & Paul A. Lewin & Ryanne Pilgeram, 2023. "Gender differences in the financial performance of U.S. farm businesses: A decomposition analysis using the Census of Agriculture," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(2), pages 1233-1253, June.
    8. Unay-Gailhard, İlkay & Brennen, Mark A., 2022. "How digital communications contribute to shaping the career paths of youth: A review study focused on farming as a career option," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 39(4), pages 1491-1508.

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