The Farmerettes of NY State School of Agriculture

During World War I, the NY State School of Agriculture trained women in farm work. The Navey League conceived of sending women for this three-month course in practical farming. Albert Johnson, the supervisory of the training, stated that one woman with modern farm implements could do the work once done by three men and seven horses. Instead of calling themselves, “aggies”, these women referred to themselves as “Farmerettes.”

On June 15, 1917, a new barracks were built for these women with an opening ceremony and flag raising.  These barracks have twenty sleeping rooms with beds for forty women and a separate bathing pavilion. The barracks were built by Fay Kellogg and the beds were regulation army beds. At the opening, sixty-seven women were already registered for the program. No one took them seriously at first. There was a wager among the faculty as to how long they would last. Three months into the program, not one woman quit.

The women worked from 5am-6pm. They rose at 5, had breakfast at 6 and then room inspection at 7. After that, they worked side by side with the men doing morning farm chores. Lectures on farming began at 9am and lasted until 12:30. After that, they did their own work. They were each given a plot of ground to plant whatever they chose. They were responsible for taking full care of this plot. In addition, they were given eggs and an incubator and were left to their own devices to hatch and raise chickens.

They even created their own planting song:

            The Planting Song of the Farmerettes

            Nellie was a pedagogue

            And Sue a social light

            But when Germans sank our boats

            They both set out to fight

            Grabbing up a rake & hoe

            They joined the food armee

            Now they’re out at Farmingdale

            A-fighting for the free

            It’s a hard job to plant potatoes

            It’s a darn sight worse to hoe

            It’s a hard job to weed tomatoes

            When the pesky things to grow

            Farewell to all the bright lights

            Good-bye old Broadway

            We are all out here to serve our country

            And you bet we’ll stay

Sources:

“Farmerettes Open Their New Barracks.” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. June 16, 1917

Foster, Elene. “Farming with the Farmerettes on Farmingdale.” NY Tribune, 1917

Weiss, Elaine. Fruits of Victory: The Woman’s Land Army of America in the Great War. Potomac Books, 2008.