Areas of Expertise
Rural Women Studies
Diane's thesis title was "A History of Rural Women and the Intergenerational Transfer of the Family Farm." She conducted research with women who farm and asked about their history of farming and the intergenerational transfer of their family farms. You can find a summary of the research here: https://www.farmtransition.org/history-rural-women-intergenerational-transfer-family-farm-candian-perspective/
Family Farms
The complexities of family farming and family business and the intergenerational transfer are often rife with controversy. The historic gender roles are antiquated and deserve contemporary analysis. Believing the status quo in agriculture is a way forward - is a move backward. Diane's workshops explore, in a forthright manner, the rarely examined systems that family farms were created in and discuss productive change.
Women's Inclusion in Agriculture
The "advancement of women" trend in agriculture, helping to expose the realities of inequities, has stirred up responses ranging from cruel backlash, adamant denials, to daily conscious acts to reach a level playing field. It is 2022 - and the long reach for parity for women and girls in agriculture continues to be slower than slow, maligned, overlooked, and misunderstood. It doesn't have to be this way.
My Approach
Diane has built her concepts of change and challenge for the agriculture industry and family farms on her history of being raised on a family farm, being a farmer, a rural community advocate, and through a practical research project gaining her a Master's of Arts in Cultural, Social and Political Thought. She is part of the agriculture community and has worked to reach out and broaden the impact of her research that clearly demonstrated the inequalities that persist in family farms.
From her experiences, she understands how difficult it is to understand and challenge living histories - like a family farm. A more thorough examination of the present state of affairs in agriculture regarding women's inclusion and the way women participate is paramount to the benefit of everyone within the industry.
Diane discusses the often over-looked and misunderstood roles of women and girls in agriculture and how to initiate change, become more inclusive and demystify the inaccurate concepts of who farmers are. If we are not able, or unwilling, to address "systems" in agriculture, aka patriarchy - little if anything will experience meaningful change.
