The United Nations has designated 2026 as the Year of the International Woman Farmer (IYWF 2026), focusing on women around the globe who play a decisive role in agriculture but are sometimes unrecognized. Here on the North Fork, women farmers — veterans and newcomers alike — spoke with the North Fork Sun about what the yearlong designation means to them.

It was nearly 53 years ago when Louisa Hargrave first began putting her hands into the dirt, planting grapevines in Cutchogue alongside her husband, Alex. Although she became the first female vintner on the North Fork, this pioneering farmer remembers the days when it was acceptable for women to handle the business side of running a farm, but not be the actual farmer.

“Usually in those days men did the spraying, moving the tanks, pruning, etc., but I was out in the field doing all the hard work that I loved to do.”

She was focused on agriculture while, for other farming couples at that time, the woman might have worked away from the farm, possibly at a bank full time, to help make ends meet.

In 1973, when Hargrave Vineyard was the forerunner of the winery industry on the North Fork, “my husband’s name was put forth, but I was doing all the studying about winemaking. I set up the laboratory and figured out the fermentation.”

Considered by many as the first lady of wine on the East End of Long Island, she pointed out that, like many female farmers today, she was also raising children and running the household.

‘The heart and soul’

Hargrave admires a winegrower who, more than two centuries ago, was also a trailblazer. She describes Barbe Nicole Clicquot Ponsardin as “the uber woman in the wine world.”

According to Hargrave, Clicquot Ponsardin, who was widowed at 27, wasn’t allowed to go into her own wine cellar because women were considered “pollutants” because of their menstrual cycles. But, “she would go into the cellar at night when no one was there and she figured out how to create wine and champagne.”

Today, Veuve Clicquot, founded in 1772, is one of the largest Champagne companies in France. Clicquot Ponsardin’s innovations, including creating the first known blended rosé Champagne, “revolutionized champagne making and were widely adopted by producers, becoming the basis of modern champagne production,” according to the company website.

Louisa Hargrave (courtesy photos)

Reacting to the United Nations’ designation of 2026 as the Year of the International Woman Farmer, Mrs. Hargrave, now 78, believes the “UN is thinking about the women who are at the heart and soul behind everything that happens on a farm.

“They’re the nurturers,” she said. “If they’re not doing the actual bundling of the wheat, they’re working as a team with their husbands. A lot of thoughtful work goes into making farming a good life for your family.”

‘Little sister’

When Ava Sannino was just 2 years old, her parents, Anthony and Lisa, purchased five acres in Cutchogue with a vineyard of merlot and cabernet sauvignon. Now 21, Ms. Sannino, who studied viticulture at Cornell University, said learning about grape growing, soil and agricultural practices is “everything I love and grew up with on the North Fork.”

Now fully immersed in the business, she is experimenting with winemaking and creating her own brand. Translating the Italian name Sorellina into English, she calls it “little sister” because she is the youngest of four children.

“My generation was drinking RTDs, these ready-to-drink beverages, and leaning away from wine. It’s a very light-style red wine — the Bordeaux varieties. It makes you slow down and you have to drink it slowly. And you’re probably opening it with your friends and family, spending quality time.”

Among the youngest viticulturists on the North Fork, Ms. Sannino said the UN designation this year is “exciting and unique, and it’s great to be recognized.”

‘The spotlight’

At Oregon Road Organics farm in Cutchogue, young farmers Kendall Fabb and Emily DiVello are “greener” than Mrs. Hargrave, with just a few years of farming under their belts. But although they’re relatively new to farming, their determination and perspective are just as fresh and positive as the women who preceded them.

Twenty-three-year-old Kendall Fabb and 27-year-old Emily DiVello were childhood best friends in Mattituck, following in the footsteps of their fathers, who grew up together.

Ms. Fabb, whose family owns the 12-acre farm, feels the UN designation is important in educating people about sustaining farms.

“The North Fork is changing all around us. Stores and homes are taking over vacant land. Small farms are disappearing every day.”

Ms. DiVello believes the designation comes at the perfect time.

“We have a spotlight on us now for the first time, especially being the new generation of female farmers.”

The co-farmers said they take pride in preserving the agriculture for which the North Fork is known.

“It’s great to have the UN recognition because it shows women that you can do whatever you set your mind to,” Ms. Fabb said.

When they decided to make farming their life’s work, neither said she ever heard anyone suggest it was a crazy career path for women.

“I’ve only received recognition about how hard we work,” Ms. DiVello said.

Fabb added that she has sometimes seen people do a double take when they see her driving a truck or watering the fields as a female farmer.

The farmers also offered advice for young women considering the profession.

“Don’t get discouraged. It’s trial and error. All farmers struggle,” Ms. DiVello said. “I’m hoping we can keep the farm around for our kids and grandkids. Agriculture is so important and unique.”

DiVello has degrees in landscape design from Suffolk County Community College and the New York Institute of Art and Design, but college was not in the plans for Fabb.

“I wasn’t thinking I would be as passionate about farming as I am today. Life took me in a different direction than I was expecting.”

She’s been farming there for six years, and Emily for four.

‘A lot of trial and error’

Emily’s family were potato farmers, but “I was never a part of it. Four years ago, Kendall needed help and I realized how passionate I was about farming.”

She’s been at Oregon Road Organics ever since. Of their dozen or so crew members, most are women.

Their wide selection of organic vegetables, including heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers and melons, is sold at several farmers markets in Amagansett, Huntington, Long Beach and Glen Cove.

During the past 26 years, Isabel Osinski has grown millions of oysters in Greenport waters that once made this area the oyster capital of the East Coast. But raising lines and dragging cages ashore is a serious sea change from Wall Street, where she and her husband, Mike, ran a software company until 1999.

That’s when they said goodbye to city life, sold the company, bought their house and have been oyster farmers ever since on the shore of Widow’s Cove.

Now 71 and still a full-time baywoman, Mrs. Osinski is considered one of the first female-owned oyster companies on the North Fork.

“It was a big switch and it’s a lot of trial and error. You have to think about the elements, the tide, the water and pollution. It’s not like being on the trading floor,” Mrs. Osinski said.

She said people often ask what she does because they assume her husband does it all.

“I’m sure there are other female oyster farmers in the world. I don’t think I’m unique.”

To which her husband quickly chimed in:

“She is unique! She’s in the water with her wetsuit, counting oysters, selling them in the city.”

‘Blood, sweat and tears’

“Blood, sweat and tears” is how Joann Zilnicki describes what it’s like to be a woman farmer.

Decades ago, she was a candy striper at what is now Peconic Bay Medical Center, but it “drove me crazy to work inside because I love being outside.”

So, in 1982, her first farm stand — a small one — went up outside her house on Sound Avenue in Riverhead.

“And I drove the tractor. That’s how I grew up. It’s in my genes.”

She also felt she was going to marry a farmer, despite her mother’s warnings that it would be a lot of hard work. And she did, marrying farmer John Zilnicki.

For the past five years, Mrs. Zilnicki has added cattle farmer to her long list of agricultural chores. Their small herd of eight to 12 grass-fed Angus cattle are sold in half and whole portions, and buyers receive a free freezer with their purchase.

Both sets of grandparents were potato farmers who came to the United States from Ireland and Poland, making her a third-generation farmer.

Starting out with just two herbs — parsley and dill — her farm stand now offers about 25 different herbs. And her coop, which once housed 25 chickens, now holds 200.

“We do a lot of fresh eggs.”

That’s in addition to a wide array of vegetables, including corn, cucumbers, lettuce, peppers, leeks, carrots and melons.

At 65, she has some words of wisdom for women attracted to a life on the land.

“It’s not for the weak of heart, that’s for sure. Sometimes it’s 365 days a year. When you have animals and it’s zero degrees outside, you still have to make sure they’re fed and watered. It’s work. It’s a lot of grit.”

But she adds that she loves being a farmer. Her goal has always been to pass the farm to the next generation — her son and daughter.

Zilnicki said the UN designation is “wonderful because there are a lot of women farmers out there.”

On the North Fork, 20% to 25% of farmers are women, according to Laurie McBride, president of the Long Island Farm Bureau, which is collecting stories and photos from female farmers to coincide with the UN designation.

“It will show that the traditional roles of women are changing. They were in the background, bookkeeping, organizing and working at the farm stands, but in the last 20 years, women are having a much more active role. We need to change the stereotype of the American farmer, and these women are an inspiration to the next generation.”