By Matt Reese and the CFAES News Team
Families and farming simply go hand in hand. Raising families on and around farms has incredible lifelong benefits for the parents and children involved, but it can also present significant challenges.
The difficulties associated with caring for young children on busy, modern farms have become an increasingly common topic of discussion in recent years and will also be a special theme at this year’s Farm Science Review.
I can still remember when we first started selling Christmas trees on our small farm in Hancock County, the operation WAS child care. My brothers and I were all old enough to work on the farm, helping customers and cutting trees. However, by the time the next generation came along, the farm had become too large and too busy during the selling season to accommodate young children in the same way. We faced a significant challenge and learning curve figuring out how to run a busy operation as parents while also providing a safe place for the young children. Like our farm, many farms start out as a great way to raise children but grow and evolve in ways that can be very difficult to manage, especially in rural areas where child care options are limited.
Shoshanah Inwood of Ohio State University learned a lot about this issue as she collected her research data, including through conversations with farmers. One Ohio farmer told her, “The lack of child care was the main obstacle to growing my farm.”
Inwood, an associate professor of community, food, and economic development in the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) at Ohio State University, has built a national reputation on the issue over the past decade. Inwood and Florence Becot of Pennsylvania State University surveyed farm and ranch families in 47 states for the 2023 National Farm Families Childcare Survey. They found that nationwide, 74% of farm families have experienced child care issues in the past five years — most commonly due to cost and availability, followed by distance and quality of child care.
“Access to affordable child care is linked to child safety, farm profitability and economic development,” Inwood said.
The Douridas family of Madison County knows the costs and challenges of child care in the farming industry all too well. Nate and Amanda are the parents of Madi, 4, and Max, 7. Both have worked in farming for about 20 years. He is an FSR farm manager responsible for 1,500 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat. She is an agricultural and natural resources instructor at Ohio State University Extension in Madison County.
There is a daycare in London and her parents live about 15 miles away. Still, on days when the daycare is closed and in the evenings, “it can be hectic. The biggest challenge is managing the schedule and figuring out how we prioritize everyone’s tasks,” Amanda said.
Her advice to other farming families is that while there are daycare centers in the countryside, they are hard to come by and choices are limited. She suggests that new parents find childcare as soon as possible, even before the baby is born. Get on the daycare list quickly.
“Childcare is a big issue for everyone, but on the farm it’s exacerbated by the work hours and time commitments,” Amanda said. “Evenings are the hardest. If I have meetings in the evenings and Nate is working on the farm, it can be really difficult. My Master Gardener group that meets in the evenings knows my children well.”
Inwood will be exhibiting an in-person exhibit on child care at the 2024 Farm Science Review to stimulate discussion on this important topic. Other findings from the 2023 national survey include:
- Eight out of ten farming families (88%) reported that someone in their household had experienced increased stress and anxiety since the arrival of children.
- Eight out of ten farming families (86%) look after their children on the active farm because there is a lack of alternative childcare options – paid or unpaid.
- Nine out of ten farming families (97%) fear that their children could be injured on the farm.
Child care is a clear national farm policy issue, Inwood said, and she has advocated for it to be included in the 2024 Farm Bill. She has testified before Congress and worked with various committees to recognize child care as an important issue in rural America. For the first time, the nation’s largest agricultural organizations, the American Farm Bureau and the National Farmers Union, have included child care in their policy priorities for the federal farm bill. The current version of the House bill includes child care provisions in the rural development title.
If you’re at FSR this year, be sure to stop by the OCJ/Ohio Ag Net crew in our red barn on the corner of Corn and Market. You can visit with our amazing staff, take a selfie with Dale Minyo (who doesn’t need one?), enjoy freshly popped popcorn, pick up free giveaways, renew your OCJ subscription, and get a chance to win a giant TV and play our new, fun (and also giant) four-in-a-row game. Bring the kids and experience family fun at Farm Science Review. See you there!
