American Agri-Women officially began November 14, 1974, founded by four state women’s agriculture groups which had formed: Women for the Survival of Agriculture in Michigan; Wisconsin Women for Agriculture; Oregon Women for Agriculture; and the Washington Women for the Survival of Agriculture. Kansas Agri-Women (then United Farm Wives of Kansas) and Illinois Agri-Women (then Illinois Women for Agriculture) joined soon thereafter.
Today, AAW has 50 state and commodity affiliate organizations as well as individual members throughout the country, representing tens of thousands of women involved in agriculture. Throughout the history of AAW, our members have been actively involved and making a difference in legislative and regulatory matters at the local, state, and national levels. They have also been instrumental in student and consumer education about agriculture, having initiated the Agriculture in the Classroom program at the national level are integrally involved in national and state programs still today.
Here’s a little about our beginnings, from the AAW First 20 Years History, “A Proud Heritage – A Precious Legacy.” To read more about the first 20 years of AAW’s history,
follow this link.
This is an excerpt, written by Sharon Steffens and Pat Cohill, WSAM: "Beset with many serious problems, American Agriculture, as a fragmented industry, lacked a single voice through which to speak to bring about effective change. Many felt agriculture needed to develop a voice to speak for the entire industry. Women were to play an important role in developing a united voice for agriculture. In 1969, a group of women in Oregon organized as a result of government regulations banning farmers burning fields. Oregon Women for Agriculture (OWA) stood alone, for their husbands were too busy farming to respond and fiht the forces that were determining the course of American Agriculture."
"Two years later, in 1971, Connee Canfield, unaware of OWA’s existence, founded Women for the Survival of Agriculture in Michigan (WSAM). The WSAM’s realized that the problems of agriculture were national in scope and required a national organization to respond effectively. The first attempt at organizing a national convention of farm women was made when the just-organized Women for the Survival of Agriculture in Michigan chartered a bus to Washington, D.C., to call on the Secretary of Agriculture."