‘They feel that connection to the land’: Iowa farmers balance motherhood and agriculture

Like many women, Lillie Beringer spent time at home after the birth of her first child, recovering from delivery and bonding with her new son. But it wasn’t a typical maternity leave.

That’s because Beringer owns and operates a farm in Cascade.

It was October 2024, and the clock was ticking. Harvest was in full swing. Cattle and chickens needed to be fed. Crops had to come out of the ground. Milk and yogurt had to be made.

Beringer spent about a week with her new baby boy, Tripp, before she was back at work.

“There was definitely not eight weeks where all you're doing is focusing on your baby, type maternity leave,” said Beringer, who is a third-generation farmer. “But quite honestly, the first week we were home, like my husband was harvesting, and I was just trying to be home and figure out how to make this transition.”

Despite having given birth just days earlier — and with a tailbone injury from delivery — Beringer was back in the fields working, even though it wasn’t to the extent she was working before.

“Tripp was eight days old, and he was in the combine,” Beringer said. “I am not the type of person that is good at being home for a long period of time and sitting still. So quite honestly, as soon as I felt like able, I had to get outside because I was going crazy myself.”

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Beringer, who is currently pregnant with her second child, said caring for an infant while running a farm was “pretty crazy,” but she wouldn’t change a thing.

Today, Tripp is 17 months old and does not attend day care. Instead, he’s outside on the farm or in the family’s farm store with Mom, all day, every day. Beringer’s parents work on the farm and help watch Tripp some afternoons. Beringer’s husband also works in agriculture full-time, but on a farm 40 minutes outside Cascade.

Growing up in a farming family, Beringer said she couldn’t imagine life any different.

“Every day is different, but the beauty is being able to be your own boss and make your own schedule,” she said. “I get to have my family with me doing it every day, too. So that's definitely something that I don't take for granted, but there are definitely days where it’s hard.”

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Beringer is one of many women who navigate pregnancy and balance motherhood while running their Iowa farms.

Iowa State University’s Iowa Farmland Ownership and Tenure Survey reports that as of 2022, 46 percent of Iowa farmland was owned by women. Of that, only 1 percent of the farmland is owned by women 34 years of age and younger.

The 2022 Census of Agriculture report found that out of a statewide pool of 153,680 agricultural producers, 33 percent were women.

Kate Edwards owns Wild Woods Farm, which has been serving the Iowa City and Solon areas since 2010. Wild Woods is a community supported agriculture farm — or CSA — which is a partnership between consumers and farmers, where consumers can purchase produce directly from local farmers.

Edwards was a business owner and farmer for 11 years before she had children — Ada Marie, who is 3 1/2, and Clarence, an 11-month-old. Her husband, Derek, helps on the farm but has a full-time office job as an engineer off the farm.

Edwards is a generation removed from farming, but spent time on her grandparents’ farm when she was growing up.

“The farm was a magical place for me,” she said.

She knew she wanted her future children to experience that magic, too.

So, when it came time to choose between raising kids on the farm or sending them to day care during the day, the answer was clear.

“Even before I had kids, I remember thinking, ‘I want to raise them on the farm,’” she said.

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‘We’re farmers’

Although her children are young, Edwards knows her children are already picking up her passion for farming.

Wild Woods is an organic farm, so Edwards’ daughter, Ada Marie, spends her summers out in the fields, walking barefoot in the soil and lending a helping hand when she can.

Her son Clarence, coming up on his first birthday, crawls around on the farm and in their greenhouse, watching Edwards work.

Edwards said one time when Clarence was an infant, he rested in a bin cushioned with lettuce while she worked on harvesting the rest of the crop. Another time, her daughter needed something to play with, so Edwards gave her a head of cabbage to tide her over.

“Just seeing the light in my kids’ eyes when they're outside, they're in heaven,” Edwards said. “When their hands are in the soil, even though they are so little, I know I’ve already passed on the joy of farming to them.”

As much as she loved the farm when she was a child, Edwards said she never thought she could be a farmer herself. When she thought of a farmer, she pictured a man.

Now, Edwards hears her daughter describe herself as a farmer.

“’We’re farmers’ she says,” Edwards said. “It’s just what we do, and they feel that connection to the land.”

Although she’s never doubted her decision, navigating the road of both motherhood and agriculture hasn’t always been easy.

Edwards had cesarean section deliveries with both of her pregnancies. The surgery slices through the abdomen and uterus and can lead to a lengthy recovery. Despite that, Edwards was back in the field in a matter of weeks.

My pregnancies “have been very taxing on my body and most of the work I do on the farm is very physical,” Edwards said. “There is no maternity leave, which is a problem across all industries [and] for people who own their own businesses, but particularly in agriculture.”

Edwards said she still is going to physical therapy to recover from childbirth. She also goes to physical therapy because of her work on the farm.

“At this point, it's just a caretaking thing because my body is the tool that I have for my farm,” Edwards said. “Just like I change the engine oil on my tractors, I take really good care of my body to make sure I can continue this work.”

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Finding balance

Every day is different for Shae and Anna Pesek, Delaware County farmers and parents to a 14-month-old son.

Shae grew up on a farm outside of Coggon, where she and Anna currently farm. They co-own and operate Over the Moon Farm, raising chickens, turkeys, ducks and pork. They also grow seasonal cut flowers.

Anna, who is originally from Massachusetts, said she had a farming mentor who helped her gain perspective on how to navigate the agricultural lifestyle.

“Something that he said was, ‘When you become parents, you'll become a better farmer, because you don't have time for so many inefficiencies,’” said Anna, who also works as a digital content coordinator for Practical Farmers of Iowa. “And in your first couple years of running the business, this was definitely true for us.”

Anna said between working to keep a consistent cash flow coming in and experimenting to determine what’s best for business, she and Shae were in a stage of saying “yes” to everything.

One way the two have found balance while juggling their business and motherhood is by learning how to say “no,” even when it’s difficult.

For example, the couple were vendors at the Iowa City Farmers Market every Saturday up until their son was about 6 months old.

“We had a realization that we wanted to be building a business that would work for us in the long-term, although it felt like a risk to say ‘no’ to some of those customers,” Anna said.

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Shae said she and Anna embraced bravery when they became mothers.

“There's a fierceness that has come with motherhood. Our son is so important to us in our decision making, our planning and everything that we do,” Shae said. “Being a two-mom team, I think we have each other too. That does help with some of the brave actions and choices that we're doing because we're in it together.”

Olivia Cohen covers energy and environment for The Gazette and is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues.

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Comments: olivia.cohen@thegazette.com