Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/809070
30 | SignatureMT A lthough in the minority, women have always been involved in Montana's agriculture. W hen the early 20th Century homestead acts opened up land for occupancy, women who were heads of households took up land. Up to 18 percent of all homesteaders in Mon- tana were women. Today nearly one million women are working America's lands, which is nearly a third of our nation's farmers. College women are majoring in agricul- ture in growing numbers. ey have become specialists in various agricultural careers. For example, they have become veterinarians, researchers, conservationists, foresters, and economists. ey are serving on boards of directors, and they have taken up corner offices and become CEOs in agricultural busi- nesses. Women continue to make strides in agriculture, a career field that has traditionally appeared to be made up of men. A Montana Farmers Union Board of Directors Member Jan Tusick, who is the Director of Lake County's Mission Mountain Food Enterprise Center in Ronan, is the only female member on the Montana Farmers Union Board of Directors that meets in Great Falls. She and her husband live near Polson and care for 150 ewes on an 80-acre farm. She uses her Agricultural Science degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obis- po, California, as the foundation for fulfilling her responsibilities as a director of a food center, as a farmer, and as a board member. When Tusick joined the Board of Directors in 2006 as the representative from Region Six, which covers the western coun- ties of the state, there was another woman on the board of nine members. at woman le the board and Tusick did too when another person won the Region Six seat in 2008. Tu- sick decided to put her name in the selection process in 2013, and she won the Region Six seat that year and then again in 2016. Pres- ently, she is the only woman on the board. Her daily work at the Food Enterprise Center puts her in contact with individuals who are enthusiastic about starting up a line of food for retail distribution. is spirit is also prevalent at the Montana Farmers Union, a grass roots organization supporting farm Written by Suzanne Waring Women Making Strides in a Man's World Closing the Agricultural Gender Gap Women gathering asparagus in the early 1940s. Photo from U. S. Library of Congress.