IN THE VAST and often overlooked landscapes of rural America, families face unique challenges. One critical issue stands out: the child care crisis. Our family-run produce farm in Ohio has been in production for 28 years. With three generations working to create a viable business to support our growing family, we know something about the need for child care in rural areas. The 2023 U.S. Farm Bill presents a crucial opportunity to address this pressing issue and foster early childhood development in rural communities.
The child care crisis is not unique to rural America, but rural Americans are more impacted by the lack of access to licensed child care. For example, 59 percent of rural communities are “child care deserts” compared to 56 percent of urban and 44 percent of suburban communities, according to a 2018 report by the Center for American Progress. In rural communities, families often struggle to find accessible, affordable, and high-quality options. Remote locations, limited infrastructure, and lack of providers exacerbate the challenges. The crisis not only hampers parents’ ability to work but also impedes the economic imperative to attract younger farm families to replace aging American farmers — more than half of whom are within a decade of retirement. The price of health insurance and the lack of child care make full-time farming out of reach for many younger Americans.
Most cultural depictions of the “family farmer” include a hard-working father in the fields, while a mother and small children are home tending the chickens. This is not the norm for modern farmers. Farming is dangerous, unpredictable, and weather-dependent; it includes long hours (often at night) and off-farm jobs for both spouses. Ninety-six percent of farm families derived some income from off-farm sources, according to the Department of Agriculture. Family farmers are stringing together a mix of child care options and solutions that are not always sustainable over the long term.
When our family’s third generation was born, the farm’s razor-thin margins were still reinvested immediately into the farm operation. My sister-in-law worked off the farm to provide medical benefits for her growing family. My brother worked more than 80 hours a week establishing our mixed vegetable operation in central Ohio. By the time the fourth baby was born, my mother played a central role in caring for their children. Sadly, it was a complete shock to our farming operation when she was diagnosed with cancer and died in 2018. No quality child care options were available that met the inconsistent schedules of a farmer and nurse. During those years, my brother limited the number of hours he farmed and shrunk our family operation. Research shows that 28 percent of all farm families decrease their labor or stop working after the arrival of children.
Until recently, the rural child care crisis was a niche issue studied by a few rural sociologists. News coverage often framed this crisis as a myth — asserting that rural Americans did not want help caring for their children. However, when researchers from the National Farm Medicine Center and Ohio State University conducted a survey this year specifically on child care needs in farm families, they uncovered hard truths. Seventy-four percent of American farm families experienced child care challenges in the past five years, and 86 percent take their children onto the farm work site because they have no alternative care options. Based on these results, the two largest farm lobbying groups, National Farmers Union and American Farm Bureau Federation, adopted rural child care as a priority in the 2023 U.S. Farm Bill.
The farm bill is renewed by the U.S. Congress every five years. This $1 trillion piece of legislation primarily focuses on agricultural and food policy. Nearly 80 percent of the bill’s total budget is for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the country’s largest food assistance program for low-income Americans. This year’s legislative calendar for the farm bill aligns with the need for immediate action to increase child care options and support early childhood development.
While the farm bill presents a significant opportunity, it also has limitations. The bill’s funding is constrained, and competing priorities impact any new allocation of resources. To maximize the bill’s effectiveness, lawmakers introduced the Expanding Childcare in Rural America Act of 2023, sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. This bipartisan act would direct the USDA to authorize and prioritize financing, loans, and grant programs that address the availability, quality, and cost of child care in agricultural and rural communities through existing programs.
By prioritizing rural access to child care and early childhood development, the farm bill can provide support to farming families and in the child care deserts that dominate rural areas. However, legislative solutions must be accompanied by collaboration with pro-social organizations to maximize impact. Rural Americans have long prided themselves on finding their own solutions to care for their neighbors. Through the right mix of resources within the farm bill and pro-social organizations, lawmakers can create much-needed support for the next generation of farmers and farmworkers.
Bryn Bird, a policy consultant with the Rural Organizing network, works for just farm and food policy systems.
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