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Subject: Market Farming

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Patrick Stine" <patricks AT ccrtc.com>
  • To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: who will farm
  • Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 07:37:50 -0500

Title: SANET-MG archives -- January 2001 (#279)

 

snip "A quick question. I frequently see projects and posts regarding the preservation

and promotion of family farms and farming. I am very aware that the farm community is

aging and that very few of their children are choosing farming as a career.

This begs the question, "If we preserve family farms and farmland who will farm it?"

Are there programs which are actively and successfully recruiting a new generation

of farmers? What segment of the population is interested in farming?

What kind of farming are they interested in? Are there people who would

like to farm but are being put off by attitudes or other obstacles? Would reduction

in scale make farming entering into farming less threatening? What are the barriers

to new farmers who are not from a traditional farm background?"

    I can only speak for myself, but it seems that the major obstacles seem to be attitudes toward farming (hard

work for little or no pay) from family and friends, cost of getting started and the old boy network against anyone new

starting to farm (especially if it isn't the normal grain farm or feedlot set-up)

    My wife and I are in our early 30's and grew up on farms, we are farming 10 acres currently. We raise veggies

and free range layers, we are adding pastured broilers and grass fed feeder steers this year. Our families were/are

farmers and they were even against us starting this enterprise.

    I think most new farmers are going to have an uphill struggle due to

1. they are behind the learning curve compared to farm raised kids

2. they are most likely moving into a new area and don't have the network of connections to help them

3. if they are an unconventional farm the neighbors will be leary of them

4. the USDA and land grant colleges are always saying get bigger (should say get better)

5. Most banks don't want to loan money for new farms    

And if they are a small farm and raise unconventional crops for that area (veggies, organic, pastured livestock, etc.)

and they make a go of it, they will still have several of the older farmers in the area to deal with ( you know the guys,

always grumbling ) that feel that they have wasted their lives listening to the ag schools and USDA about going to a

monoculture (all grain or feedlot etc) and to get bigger so that they can make a living on the few cents profit they

make on each unit.

    Just my two cents.

    Patrick






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