Agro and women: ‘Who said I need strength? – 10/21/2023 – Market

“She’s just like that. Half woman, half man.”

Ana Cristina Pires, 67, doesn’t know how many times she heard that. She says it without emotion in her voice, as if it were something else. She does not care. It’s 9am on his farm in Pedreira (SP). She needs to separate the cattle.

50 kilometers away, in Itapira (SP), Sofia Gallas, 27, understands and sympathizes with what her colleague has already heard. She remembers an episode in which she took the lead to tame a wayward horse.

“Careful, you don’t have the strength for this,” came the warning.

She didn’t even bother to tie up her long, light brown hair.

“Who said I need strength? I use intelligence”, he replied.

The two are characters in an increasingly common phenomenon in the agricultural sector: women who take care of farms alone. They perform all tasks previously reserved for men in administration or manual labor.

CNA census (National Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil) shows that 19% of farms in the country are managed only by women. This number is from 2017. The entity should carry out a new survey in 2024 and expects even more significant data.

“Agriculture has always been seen as something that requires a lot of physical strength, as a masculine activity. In recent years, the sector has become more professional and technological developments have made this possible. A managerial vision is needed and women have much more organization. They have a broader vision humanized, detailed and differentiated”, says Stephanie Ferreira, 30, president of the CNA National Commission for Agricultural Women and also owner of a company that provides livestock consultancy.

Some parts of field work may have gone through a modernization process, but not always, especially on small properties. Ana Cristina weans and sells calves, takes care of the Nelore cows — “the bravest there are,” she warns — and separates the bulls because, together, one can kill the other. All alone. There are five siblings in the family, but only she entered the life of a farmer.

“My sister also did everything very well. But she got married and got used to city life. That’s not for me. Here I am in paradise. I don’t know what traffic is and I don’t have a neighbor. I do everything alone because the men who They’ve already come to work here and don’t understand anything. I’m the one who knows when the cow is going to give birth, when I have to separate the cattle, when to heal the calf’s navel so it doesn’t give birth…”, he says.

Sofia had to find her own space. No one listened to what he had to say about running the family farm.

What did that girl know about cattle, horses and agriculture in general? When she turned 20, her grandmother, her greatest reference in life, called her. She gave him a property today called 5G, with 113 hectares, equivalent to 1.13 square km (for comparison, the Ibirapuera park is 1.6 square km).

“Go out there and do it your way now”, was the request.

It was everything she wanted and she immersed herself in her work. A veterinarian by training, she had castrated two bulls and a sheep the day before the visit by the Sheet.

“The beginning was complicated. People didn’t believe me and there was prejudice, yes. They said I didn’t know what I was doing. They didn’t have faith in my ability”, he recalls.

Sofia today has 43 head of beef cattle. She also raises quarter horse and appaloosa horses and sheep. She competes in three-barrel races (in which rider and horse cover a circuit in the shortest time possible) at rodeos throughout Brazil.

It’s a life that has fascinated Marília Guerreiro Scarpioni de Lima, 32, since an early age. She remembers when she was 8 years old and her grandfather José Guerreiro would pay the farm employees. The child went along. Today, she has more of an administrator role, making financial and strategic decisions for the farms in Itapira. She still plans more.

“I have a degree in psychology, but that’s in the past. I say that my life’s dream is to be able to work solely on the farm. I also work at the family wholesale company and when the farm employee arrives to talk to me, my day changes. I could talk for hours. I really want to be there. That’s what makes my eyes shine”, he confesses.

The CNA also wants to train more female leaders in agriculture. The entity runs courses to prepare leaders who can work in the employers’ union.

“There are still few who understand the importance of this, but it will change. We already have 54 representatives spread across different states”, says Stephanie.

Ana Cristina is worried about the drop in calf prices. She used to sell them for R$2,800 each. Today, it is around R$1,500. Sofia uses Mondays to take care of all the ranch’s administration and thus free up the rest of the week. Every day in Marília is also occupied by negotiating lots of cattle, buying bulls, choosing the type of corn and making quotations.

In everyone’s speech, the desire to prove that they can do any task in the field well is implied.

Sofia never forgot that her pertinent opinions were not heard. Ana Cristina shrugs off family concerns because she lives alone and treats the cows so well that they look like pet dogs. Marília always assumes responsibility for different functions.

“Once my mother asked me what I would do if I couldn’t work on my farm. I replied: ‘I’m going to work on my neighbor’s'”, says Sofia.

She has the continuation of her family in the house, built more than 200 years ago in the center of the property. Two years ago, his daughter Alice was born.

The girl, according to her mother, already chooses the horse she likes best and wants to ride. Marília is still amused today when she hears the farm’s suppliers say they are going to “talk to the girl”.

Ana Cristina complains. She complains of back problems from exertion and skin problems from the constant sun. But she wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“My joy is staying in the carriage house. If I could, I would be there all day. It makes me angry not to be able to do what I did before”, he laments.

Some things she still does. Like when her farm’s only employee came to warn her about a drone flying over the property to “see everything she had.”

Ana Cristina was unfazed. She grabbed her 12 gauge shotgun, aimed it at the flying object and shot it down.