Queer Agriculture and Rurality: An Educational Curriculum

Abstract

In the agricultural industry and rural communities, there is a long-held culture of queer (LGBTQ+) erasure, collective trauma, and overall lack of representation/visibility. This may be attributed to the widespread presence, enforcement, and encouragement of Western, heteronormative values and lifestyles in our society, as well as the prevalence of such attitudes in rural communities of the United States (MAP, 2019). Rural areas and communities of the United States are hereby defined by the United States Department of Agriculture as areas with open countryside with less than 500 people per square mile and/or less than 50,000 people in the area, depending on locality (USDA, 2019). For queer Americans in affected areas, this has resulted in a disproportionate lack of access to land ownership, resources, community, and an overall decreased interest in the pursual of agricultural careers and residence in rural communities altogether for fear of violence and discrimination (MAP, 2019). Community education, intervention, and progressive action are essential components to the long overdue and necessary process of rectifying and mitigating the blow caused by these deep-seeded societal issues.