Introduction: The theme, women in American agriculture, is attracting increasing attention from rural women, historians, sociologists, anthropologists, economists, and related disciplines, as well as from the agricultural press and the United States Department of Agriculture. This issue of Associates NAL Today brings together the views of several representatives from these fields. Miss Carabelli's reminiscences cover one of the traditional areas of employment where women formerly faced little competition with men in advancing to top jobs in the agency. Life of the rural woman at the time the American Farmer began its "Ladies' Department" and its editor wrote of women's participation in agricultural affairs varied widely from one part of the country to another just as agriculture was diversified. One would wonder how many women actually had access to the column. Nonetheless, the "Department," as described by Berryman and Brislin, covered such subjects as family health, her interest in her husband's diversions, child care, and her duties as wife. In recent years, especially after International Women's Year (1975), a number of agricultural journals have given greater attention to women in agriculture and the increasingly important role they are taking. These are supplemented by special publications for women such as Farm Wife News. A number of articles on the subject are also appearing in professional journals, reflecting the interest of non-farm women. Jeanne M. O'Leary, a labor economist in USDA's Economic Research Service, in "Labor Force Characteristics of Nonmetropolitan Women," compares male and female participation in the labor picture--differentiating between the metropolitan and nonmetropolitan sectors. She describes the impact of rural development on employment, as well as earnings and types of jobs held by women. "Rural Women," by Cornelia Butler Flora, gives a sociologist's view of the traditional role, how it has changed especially since World War II--their participation in production, attitudes toward marriage and raising a family, and rural life styles. The result has been to break down the differences between farm and non-farm people but still leaving the rural women more conservative in some of their attitudes. The review of literature on women in agriculture by Darla Fera, formerly historical research assistant in USDA, will be of particular interest to librarians and those engaged in research in the field. Her detailed bibliography is being published by the National Agricultural Library.