WOMEN are the backbone of the world's agricultural workforce, but their hard work mostly goes unpaid.

They often do the most tedious and back-breaking tasks in the fields, as wells as tending to animals and their homes.

Women comprise 43 per cent of the world's agricul-tural labour force, which rises to 70 per cent in some countries. In Africa, for instance, 80 per cent of agricultural production comes from small farmers, who are mostly rural women.

It may be genetic prog-ramming, but, as with nursing babies and rearing children, generally most women are definitely better than most men at rearing calves and lambs. They seem to have more patience, and are certainly quick to spot a young animal that is "off colour".

Similarly, many women have considerable empathy with adult animals, whether they be dairy cows, sheep, pigs or poultry. Indeed, a significant number of women have more than made their mark nationally in the show ring with livestock.

Women are becoming increasingly important to the future success of UK farms. Latest official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that the number of female farmers has swelled to 23,000 compared to 119,000 male farmers. Many farm on their own account or in partnerships.

British agriculture has always depended on women in the workforce. Many were employed for seasonal work such as hoeing row crops like sugar beet or turnips, helping at hay and harvest, and gathering fruit crops and potatoes.

I well remember my grandmother telling me of the long, hard hours she put in. Her day started long before daybreak, helping to milk cows by hand and feeding young calves. That was followed by feeding the hens and gathering their eggs, churning butter or making cheese, and the job she detested most - cleaning all the paraffin lamps that were needed for the byres and farmhouse. All that on top of the regular household chores of any mother of three.

Granny also told me tales of the women who came on to farms as part of the Land Army organised by the Board of Agriculture during both world wars.

With three million men away to fight in the First World War, Britain was struggling for labour.

Towards the end of 1917, there were more than 250,000 women working as farm labourers, with 20,000 in the Land Army itself.

The Land Army was re-founded at the beginning of the Second World War and by 1944 it had more than 80,000 members.

Farming has always been viewed as an industry domi-nated by strong men throw-ing heavy bales about, but the nature of the industry is changing for women.

Aided by developments in technology, there is now less focus on physical strength and more on budgeting and managing the business.

A recent Barclays Agric-ulture report foundthat female farmers believe their greatest strengths lie in office management (66 per cent), domestic duties (52 per cent), practical work (42 per cent), business strategy (40 per cent) and staff management (29 per cent), highlighting the range of areas they now cover.

Women are also increasingly holding top jobs in agriculture. The NFU for England and Wales recently elected Minette Batters, a Wiltshire beef producer, to be deputy president - the first time that a woman has been elected to be an office-holder.

The latest Defra (Depart-ment for Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs) cabinet secretary is Elizabeth Truss, who replaced Owen Pater-son in David Cameron's recent cabinet re-shuffle.

She is the third female farming minister this century, following on from Owen Paterson's pred-ecessor Caroline Spelman and before that, Labour's Margaret Beckett.

I deal with several high-powered women in my duties as an agricultural journalist, including two editors of national farming magazines as well as Professor Julie Fitzpatrick who heads the Moredun Research Institute, on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

The recent graduation ceremony for undergrad-uate degrees at SRUC, Scotland's rural college, clearly indicates that in Scotland, at about a third, the proportion of highly-qualified females entering the industry is increasing.

In the subjects of agricul-ture, agricultural science, and horticulture, there were 24 female graduates compared to 50 males.

Minette Batters, the afore-mentioned NFU deputy president, said: "There are increasingly more women coming into agriculture, judging by the number in agricultural colleges and universities.

"There are greater opportunities to be involved in farming-related busines-ses and the wider industry that doesn't involve acquiring land - science and retailing, for example.

"Women have played a key role in many diversification projects, as well as being the backbone of traditional farming practice."

Farming is no longer a man's world.