Posted on Jul 4, 2022
Some of Iowa's queer farmers are taking a different approach to agriculture
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Shae Pesek and Anna Hankins’s farm is off a gravel road in Coggon, north of Cedar Rapids. Pens for chickens, ducks, and turkeys are woven through yard space, in between a farmhouse, buildings, and sheds. After a rainy morning, the chickens are coming out of the greenhouse and starting to sunbathe in the yard.
Pesek’s life now is one she didn’t exactly envision for herself as a kid. Growing up here on her family’s farm, she didn’t know any queer people in agriculture.
"I really didn't feel like that was an option for me," Pesek said. "So, I thought for me, to be out and have a wife and have this out relationship, or like, to even find and date someone, that I needed to move to a city. So that's what I did. I left, and I moved away for eight years."
Pesek’s life now is one she didn’t exactly envision for herself as a kid. Growing up here on her family’s farm, she didn’t know any queer people in agriculture.
"I really didn't feel like that was an option for me," Pesek said. "So, I thought for me, to be out and have a wife and have this out relationship, or like, to even find and date someone, that I needed to move to a city. So that's what I did. I left, and I moved away for eight years."
Some of Iowa's queer farmers are taking a different approach to agriculture
Posted from iowapublicradio.org
LGBTQ+
Farming
Agriculture
Edited 2 y ago
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Hoffelmeyer said anticipated and systemic discrimination can keep queer people out of agriculture, so we’re missing out on the solutions they are coming up with. But on top of that, they said we’re also missing out on more farmers, especially when the industry is asking where the next generation of farmers will come from.
"There are people who want to farm. They may be queer, black, indigenous people who are not You're not so used to seeing in power or in farming, but they most certainly want to farm," Hoffelmeyer said.
Hoffelmeyer says that will mean addressing systemic barriers and discrimination in agriculture that’s been hurdled at a broad range of farmers with a wide range of backgrounds, including racial and socioeconomic.
But despite these barriers, they say queer farmers like Over the Moon and Humble Hands are finding ways to do good work."
..."Hoffelmeyer said anticipated and systemic discrimination can keep queer people out of agriculture, so we’re missing out on the solutions they are coming up with. But on top of that, they said we’re also missing out on more farmers, especially when the industry is asking where the next generation of farmers will come from.
"There are people who want to farm. They may be queer, black, indigenous people who are not You're not so used to seeing in power or in farming, but they most certainly want to farm," Hoffelmeyer said.
Hoffelmeyer says that will mean addressing systemic barriers and discrimination in agriculture that’s been hurdled at a broad range of farmers with a wide range of backgrounds, including racial and socioeconomic.
But despite these barriers, they say queer farmers like Over the Moon and Humble Hands are finding ways to do good work."
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