Demographic Characteristics of Farm Operators: Gender

Between 1997 and 2002, the number of male principal farm operators decreased from 5,939 to 4,770, as decline of 1,169 male operators or 19.7 percent of the 1997 number of male farm operators. Over the same time period, the number of female principal farm operators decreased 4.6 percent, from 1,368 in 1997 to 1,305 in 2002. Thus, female farm operators in Massachusetts now represented 21.5 percent of the total number of farm operators in 2002, up from 18.7 percent in 1997.