Laura Ten Eyck started working at her family’s business, Indian Ladder Farms, when she was just 5 years old.

“My father was a teenager, and started selling apples off the front porch,” she said.

Ten Eyck oversees the retail operation, including the kitchen and the farm store. She also oversees the educational program and private events.

The USDA’s latest Census of Agriculture shows women play important roles on the farm – with women accounting for 36% of farm producers.

This probably stems from the need to know where their food comes from, Ten Eyck said.

“As women so often do, it’s not enough just to you know, go out and purchase things, you must grow them. You must raise them. You must be part of the whole process,” Ten Eyck said.

It’s been important to see younger women joining the industry, she said.

“But I watched a lot of these women start out maybe 10 years ago, even pre-COVID, and you’re just like, ‘Wow you’re just taking this on,’ and they’re doing everything themselves,” she said.

It still gives her joy decades later to see people from all walks of life come together on the farm, she said.

“I get very happy to see a teenager like I was at Voorheesville High School coming here and working alongside some of our hard-working people in the kitchen,” she said.

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