The Farmerettes: Renewed Awareness

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Growing recognition for the historical efforts of these Ontario farm workers

By Emily Croft

The Farmerettes, also known as the Farm Service Force, were created in 1941 to fill the demand for farm labour created by the Second World War. These women worked in the fields and processing factories, producing the food that fueled the war effort.

Bonnie Sitter of South Huron has been speaking with past Farmerettes and sharing their stories since 2018. And her work is now creating renewed awareness of their vital, historical role.

"Men in farm labour were leaving and enlisting for service, and the farmers were at a loss for how the farm labour force would be able to produce food," Sitter says.

The initiative was made up of girls between 16 and 18 years old who worked in the fields during their summer breaks.

The Farmerettes recruited more than 30,000 young women to work on farms between 1941 and 1952. Many of them still reminisce on those summers as the best of their lives.

The work

The majority of the Farmerettes worked on fruit and vegetable farms, growing onions, peaches, cherries, tomatoes, and many other fresh foods. Some Farmerettes also worked in canning facilities or helped process mint that was grown in the fields.

"The girls were not only known as Farmerettes, but sometimes they were also known as 'camp girls' or 'soldiers in bib overalls,'" says Sitter, who spoke with us during a break from several related projects currently underway – a documentary film, a stage play, and a potential postage stamp – which will complement a previously published book.

"They worked with pretty much every vegetable and fruit that could be grown in Ontario. Some girls left school in April to work in the greenhouses, getting seedlings started, and transplanting after that. Some girls stayed two weeks after the camps had closed and boarded with farmers so they could help finish the harvest."

These extended weeks of work were a potential incentive for the girls to join the Famerettes. If their grades were high enough, they could leave school early for the year, still receiving their course credits without completing exams.

The farmers were responsible for paying wages for the Farmerettes. The girls were typically paid 25 cents an hour, which was standard pay for farm labour at the time.

"The farmers started out thinking it was a poor idea, having women doing the farm labour, but what else could they do, and they accepted it," says Sitter.

"After the first few weeks, once the girls got used to the demands of the physical labour, they really worked as a team and tackled the job and got it done.

"They worked hard but then they had fun. The camaraderie set in."

Sitter tells Better Farming that she believes that the Farm Service Force changed how women were seen on farms, creating more acceptance around their involvement. This acceptance grew as many of the women enjoyed the work enough that they returned for multiple summers.

"I haven't met anyone who said they wouldn't do it again if they could go back. Most Farmerettes that I've spoken with say it's a summer they've never forgotten, and that at the end of the season they were in tears leaving their friends," says Sitter, noting that after the war, opportunities for men to learn trades and attend college extended the duration of the farm labour shortage.

"Seven years after the war ended, they were still replacing male labour on the farm and that's just not something women did before the Farmerettes."

Camp life

During their time working on the farms, most Farmerettes lived in camps. Often the camps were dorm style, with shared sleeping spaces, a recreation space, and outdoor washrooms. Some other camps had the girls sleep in tents.

One example of a camp shared by Sitter was the converted grist mill in Thedford. The girls slept on the upper floor in bunkbeds, while downstairs there was a shared space, and the washrooms were outside.

The camps had cooks, helpers, camp mothers, and labour secretaries. The labour secretaries were often girls that had previously been Farmerettes, returning after their first year of university. They were responsible for job assignments, collecting hours, and distributing pay packets.

Sitter says that this was the first time many of these young women were away from their homes.

"The girls did a lot of growing up. The camp staff cleaned the bedding and the camp, but girls were responsible for their own laundry. At these camps, a bell rang, and they got their lunch made, marked their name on the bag, and farmers started coming to pick them up," says Sitter.

"Often the work started at 7:30 am with maybe a 15-minute break in morning, and there'd be a lunch break and the farmer would provide water to be passed around through the group. And no one got sick, even though they were sharing the water."

Sitter says many of the past Farmerettes she has talked to describe these summers as the healthiest they'd ever been.

The girls also enjoyed the friendships made in the camps outside of work hours.

While most nights involved a curfew, the Farmerettes did have some free evenings and weekends to travel to nearby towns and see movies, and sometimes attend dances hosted by the camps. Lambton County Museums says that some camps had softball teams, and the girls would also write letters home, knit clothing for soldiers, or play board games.

Many Farmerettes continue to look back fondly on these memories.

Sharing stories

In 2018, nearly 70 years after the program ended, Sitter found a photo of some Farmerettes while sorting through her late husband's belongings. Not recognizing the girls in the photograph spurred Sitter to learn about the photo's origins, and consequently, she discovered the Farmerette program.

In her research, Sitter has uncovered just how valuable the Farmerettes were to Canada's role in the Second World War.

"Something that I think is really important to note is that people think bombs and bullets win the war, but if people can't be fed, it doesn't work," says Sitter.

"It all starts with food. Our allies had to be fed and our canning factories and food industries were shipping food to Britain on Atlantic convoys.

"These were being blown up, but they just kept producing the food and sending it out and that's what carried us through the war to victory. It was food."

Sitter now aims to spread the word and recognize the stories and contributions of the Farmerettes, many of whom are now 90 to 100 years old.

"It is an unknown story that started with a tiny picture that was 2.5 by 2.5 inches. I saw the girls and didn't know their story and decided to do research. I could've decided to throw that picture out and the story would've been lost."

Sitter previously released a book titled Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz; Memories of Ontario Farmerettes, and is now working on a documentary sharing the stories through interview clips.

Also, the 4th Line Theatre in Millbank will be premiering a play – also titled Onion Skins & Peach Fuzz: The Farmerettes – in the summer of 2024 to honour the story of the Farm Service Force.

There will be 18 opportunities to see the play in the outdoor theatre starting in July.

Sitter also intends to work with Canada Post to create a postage stamp to commemorate the work of the Farmerettes.

"We are feeling quite positive that Canada Post Corporation will listen to the story that's spreading, and they will honour and recognize the service of the Farmerettes.

"And I think the message will go far and wide in Canada. We just keep working at these things and hope that they get recognized.

"No one taught me about the Farmerettes, but I wanted to learn about them and made a stab at it, and away it's gone." BF