Soil Sisters

Soil Sisters began as a project documenting women working in careers traditionally dominated by males. It quickly turned into a project on female farmers. With the large number of women in agriculture in Ventura County, there was no shortage of subjects. Soil Sisters features 18 women representing farms and ranches in Ojai, Camarillo, Moorpark, Thousand Oaks and Fillmore, but there are many more female farmers in the county.

According to the “Soil Sisters” article in Edible Magazine that accompanied this project, “Women are said to now comprise 30% of farm operators in the U.S., a number that has tripled over the last three decades, making it the fastest growing segment in agriculture. In 2012, the latest available statistics for Ventura County, nearly 20% of the county’s farm owners were women, landing Ventura in the top 10 in California for women-owned farms.”

These women are not just defying odds in the fields, but doing so in life as well—from leaving steady jobs, to taking over a family business, to being saved from a life on the streets. They don’t treat farming as a job; it is their way of life. They are passionate, strong and artistic women who are dedicated to health and education, as well as building and inspiring their communities in a way that will last generations.