On the farm front

the long version

"The Women's Land Army sent volunteers to farms, canneries, and dairies across the country, where they accounted for a great proportion of wartime agricultural workers. On The Farm Front tells for the first time the remarkable story of these women who worked to ensure both "Freedom From Want" at home and victory abroad.". "Formed in 1943 as part of the Emergency Farm Labor Program, the WLA placed its workers in areas where American farmers urgently needed assistance. Many farmers in even the most desperate areas, however, initially opposed women working their land. Rual administrators in the Midwest and the South yielded to necessity and employed several hundred thousand women as farm laborers by the end of the war, but those in the Great Plains and eastern Rocky Mountains remained hesitant, suffering serious agricultural and financial losses as a consequence.". "Carpenter reveals how the WLA revolutionized the national view of farming. By accepting all available women as agricultural workers, farmers abandoned traditional labor and stereotypical social practices. When the WLA officially disbanded in 1945, many of its women chose to remain in their agricultural jobs rather than return to a full-time home life or prewar employment."--BOOK JACKET.