WOMEN, FOOD, AND AGRICULTURE NETWORK

LISTSERV RECORDS, 1999-

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ACQUISITION:	The »records were printed off the listserv beginning in 1999.»
ACCESS:		The »records are open for research.
COPYRIGHT:		Copyright is held by the author of the postings to the listserve.
PROCESSED BY:		Doris Malkmus, 2001. [WFAN.doc]

»History

Denise O’Brien, founder of Women, Food, and Agriculture Network (WFAN), became an activist on behalf of family farmers in the 1980s. During that decade, she directed the Rural Women’s Leadership Development project at PrairieFire Rural Action organization, but this project was not sustained. The initial impulse to form WFAN grew out of conversations between Kathy Lawrence and Denise O’Brien during a post-conference in 1993 following the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. They formed the Women, Food, and Agriculture Working Group to sponsor a two-week workshop and represent the interests of women in agriculture at the World Conference on Women in Beijing, China in 1995. After Kathy Lawrence left the Midwest, O’Brien organized a rural women’s workshop for the 1996 World Food Summit in Rome, Italy. Recognizing the need for a network of rural women to sponsor workshops and amplify women’s voices in agriculture and development, O’Brien began conceptualizing a network for women in agriculture.

In February 1997 at the Women’s Gathering of the Practical Farmers of Iowa, Betty Wells, Danielle Wirth, Virginia Wadsley, Shelly Gradwell, Rhonda Yoder and Denise O’Brien met to consider forming an organization. After two further meetings, they coordinated a three-day workshop “Rural Women, the Economy, and the Environment” in July 1997. By October 1997, charter members of Women, Food, and Agriculture Network (WFAN) had written a mission statement, goals and objectives.

Funded by grants, WFAN has continued to meet bi-annually, publish a quarterly newsletter, and maintain an active electronic listserv. Members include women farmers, educators, and extension agents and activists. Denise O’Brien has acted as paid and/or volunteer director of WFAN since the founding.

Scope and Content Note

The Women, Food, and Agriculture Network records date from 1999. The mission statement and objectives are found in a brochure located in folder 1. The bulk of the records consist of newsletters and postings to an unmoderated electronic list concerning sustainable agriculture, globalization, women’s issues, and the environment. Members submit items to the list from a variety of news sources, progressive organizations, and alternative farms resulting in a collection that is a fairly comprehensive coverage of issues concerning progressive agriculture, feminism, and the environment. Postings from the last quarter of 1999 include items from many organizations that organized protests at the 1999 World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. The preponderance of postings have been printed on acid-free paper and included in this collection; absent are single-word comments on long articles, brief words of welcome to new members, or items erroneously posted to the list serve instead of to individuals. The collection is arranged chronologically rather than topically and is not indexed

Box no. Description

Box 1

Mission statement and goals brochure, 1997

Newsletters, 1998-2001

Listserv

August 2, 1999-January 7, 2000 (20 folders)

Box 2

January 10, 2000 to May 7, 2000 (15 folders)

Box 3

May 8, 2000 to August 24, 2000 (14 folders)

Box 4

August 25, 2000 to December 31, 2000 (17 folders)

Box 5

January 1, 2001 to May 20, 2001 (19 folders)