We’re running a series of four guest articles this month by SRUC Rural Business Management students looking at women in Agriculture, beginning with “Progress, Recognition, and Representation”, by Emma Elder.
The empowerment of women continues to be a global issue, especially in the workplace. One industry in which women are underrepresented is agriculture. While it has traditionally been dominated by men, the number of women beginning careers in this area is increasing, and has grown by 40% since 2004. Over 28% of people employed in agricultural operations in the UK in 2023 were female, rising to 55% if family and unpaid labour are included (Shields, 2025).
However, women’s extensive contributions to agriculture have not always been recognised. Often referred to as ‘farmers’ wives’ or ‘farmers’ daughters’, women have for years been taking on the role of ‘farmer’ in their own right.
The Women’s Land Army was created in 1917 during the First World War and was reformed in 1939 when men went off to the Second World War. Known as ‘Land Girls’, over 200,000 women worked in the organisation from 1939 to 1950. Women came from different backgrounds with little to no agricultural experience to increase the country’s food production. They were volunteers until 1941 when they were able to officially work on the land (Sanders, 2017). This had a positive impact on women in farming as they proved that they could sustain the country’s food production.
Despite their hard work, women are still grossly under-represented in leadership roles of national farming operations. In Scotland, over a third of all farm operators are women, but this is not reflected in the board of the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) of Scotland. Currently, all directors of NFU Scotland are male, along with most of the rest of the board. Out of the ten regional board chairs there are two women, and only one woman holds a position out of the ten committee chairs (NFU Scotland, 2024). This makes a total of three women on the board out of the 24 roles. Although women only represent a small percentage of the board, this is still an increase from previous years. In 2016 there were no women in the national office, regional board chairs or committee chairs (Shortall et all, 2017). This shows that there is progress being made towards women in leadership roles in agriculture.
The National Farmers’ Union (of England and Wales) was founded in 1908, and it took until 2018 for its first female President to be appointed. Minette Batters served as President until 2024, representing the agricultural community, supporting orderly change and keeping high standards in farming. In 2024 she was given the role of a crossbench member in the House of Lords after becoming a Deputy Lieutenant to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 2021 (GOV.UK, 2025). Batters acts as a role model for women in farming, breaking stereotypes and proving with hard work a women can become president of the largest agricultural organisation in England.
Although women have always played a vital role in agriculture, their contributions have often gone unrecognised and undervalued. While progress has been made in increasing female participation and leadership within the industry, women remain underrepresented in senior decision-making roles. Continued efforts to improve representation, recognition, and equality are essential to ensure women can fully contribute to the future of agriculture.
Access to appropriate training and education plays a crucial role in enabling women to enter, remain, and progress within agricultural careers. Without these opportunities, structural barriers to advancement are likely to persist.
This is the first in a series of four related articles, and the following one will therefore explore how access to training and education has the potential to transform women’s roles in agriculture, examining current initiatives and opportunities available to support women’s development within the sector.
Emma Elder
Thank you for reading our article. We would greatly appreciate if you could fill out the quick survey linked below so we can collect some feedback as part of our Communications in Agriculture module at SRUC.
https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/sruc/article-feedback
GOV.UK, (2025) ‘Former NFU President and farmer Baroness Minette Batters appointed by Defra to lead Farm Profitability Review’ [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/former-nfu-president-and-farmer-baroness-minette-batters-appointed-by-defra-to-lead-farm-profitability-review [Accessed 06/12/2025]
NFU Scotland. (2024) ‘Directors’ [online] Available at: https://www.nfus.org.uk/about-nfus/directors [Accessed 06/12/2025]
Sanders, T. (2017) ‘A Call to the Women of Great Britain’: the formation of the Women’s Land Army’ [online] Available at: https://history.blog.gov.uk/2017/10/04/a-call-to-the-women-of-great-britain-the-formation-of-the-womens-land-army/ [Accessed 05/12/2025]
Shields, R. (2025) ‘The Ultimate Guide for Women in UK Agriculture (2025 Edition)’ [online] Available at: https://www.agrirs.co.uk/blog/2025/07/the-ultimate-guide-for-women-in-uk-agriculture-2025-edition [Accessed 05/12/2025]
Shortall, s. (2017) ‘Women in Farming and the Agriculture Sector’ [online] Available at: https://www.gov.scot/binaries/content/documents/govscot/publications/research-and-analysis/2017/06/women-farming-agriculture-sector/documents/00521489-pdf/00521489-pdf/govscot%3Adocument/00521489.pdf [Accessed 06/12/2025]