Sexuality and small-scale farmers

Publication date: 06-10-2025
Extent: 18 pages

Contributions by: Prisca Pfammatter, University of Bern, Switzerland; and Michaela Hoffelmeyer, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Chapter synopsis:

In this chapter, the authors invite gender in agriculture scholars and practitioners to consider the smallholder farmers who are gender minorities but do not fit into the category of “woman.” By deconstructing gender and sex, researchers and practicians are positioned to attend to a more holistic form of gender and, as such, disassemble the structures that seek to dominate all gender minorities. Through re-examining the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index, we reflect on how heteronormativity affects smallholder farmers and call for scholars and practitioners to investigate the pernicious ways in which heteronormativity manifests in research, policy, and practice. Second, by reviewing queer farmers’ research—primarily conducted in industrialized nations—and using a case study of farming in Switzerland, this chapter demonstrates that assumptions about queer equity and progress cannot be assumed based on geographic location. Finally, the chapter asks what sexuality-sensitive, -informed, -transformative approaches, policies and research entail.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2024.0148.11