Stay Informed

A recent survey of farmers and ranchers found – to no one’s surprise – that it’s not easy in rural America to find child care that is conveniently located and affordable.

According to the survey, which was conducted by the National Children’s Center, the National Farm Medicine Center and The Ohio State University, 74% of those surveyed have experienced child care challenges within the last five years, usually due to cost, availability, distance to child care or quality of child care.

The survey was conducted between January and March of 2023 and includes 860 responses from farm and ranch families in 47 states.

Other findings from the survey:

• 78% of respondents enjoy having children along with them while working on the farm, but at the same time, 62% report that access to affordable child care is an important strategy for keeping children safe.
• 97% are concerned that their children could get hurt on the farm.
• 48% report that access to affordable child care is important to the economic viability of the farm business.

“It’s a constant juggling act of where the kids are going to be and when,” said Kyla Schroeder of Perry County. She and her husband, Isaac, have two sons – Carter, 7, and Clyde, 9 – and they also own a cattle and hay farm and have full-time, non-farm jobs.

Even though Kyla works from home, that can make for a complicated schedule. As work-from-home veterans know, most companies with remote workers require that employees have separate child care if they have young kids because it’s very difficult to work and care for small children at the same time. Kyla and Isaac rely on a network of friends and family who live nearby.

The survey confirms that for many farm families, family and community support is an important part of their child care strategy. Sixty-five percent of farm families have family and friends close enough to help with child care. However, 42% reported that their family and friends are too busy to help, and 28% reported that their family and friends cannot help due to health difficulties.

Jake and Jill Smoker own a grain, cattle and seed corn operation in Wanatah and have two children – Catherine, who turns 7 this month, and Ely, age 3. Jake works full time on the farm, but Jill teaches art at the local high school.

“The eldest is in school now, which helps a lot, but with the youngest, we balance between grandma and another child care provider,” Jill said.

“Even then, there are still a lot of things that fluctuate from week to week,” she added. “We are very reliant on the kindness of our neighbors.”

These days, Marie and Ryan Hilton, Jasper County, have it pretty easy most of the time because Marie teaches at a local Christian school and has the same schedule as their two children – Sadie, who is almost 9, and Roscoe, age 7. Before that, they managed thanks to a network of friends and some flexibility on the part of Ryan’s employer.

“If I need help, I have friends to turn to. But in our small town, there’s not much day care, per se,” she added.

Matthew Chapman and his wife, Brianna, raise hogs and grain with his brother, Jacob. His parents are retired but still help out with the farm, and with the couple’s three daughters, Grace, 9, June, 6, and Maeva, 2. Matthew works full time on the farm, but until March, Brianna owned and operated a flower shop. She now works for the farm. Since both are self-employed, they have generally had flexibility in terms of taking care of their kids.

“We always joked that if we had a real job, we’d be in trouble,” Matthew said. That doesn’t mean there haven’t been complications. When they have needed child care, the Chapmans have relied on grandparents and on child care offered through a local church.

“It’s nothing that the government’s going to be able to fix,” Matthew added. “It takes the school structure and the family structure. It takes a village – people you can rely on and trust.”

For more on the survey, visit www.marshfieldresearch.org/nccrahs/Farmchildrenchildcare.