Help Wanted: Young Farmers
Updated 3/26/08: Zoë Bradbury, author of "Help Wanted: Young Farmers," has answered the call and become a young farmer herself. She recently began plowing the fields on Oregon's southern coast. In 2008, she will be blogging all about her experiences on Edible Portland in a series titled Diary of a Young Farmer.
My husband and I remember a conversation we had with my parents almost 15 years ago now. We were fresh out of graduate school and announced to my folks that we wanted to be farmers. You could have heard a pin drop. Suffice to say my parents didn’t share our enthusiasm. Today my husband and I both have "desk jobs." Zoë Bradbury knows the raised eyebrow of which I speak. But lucky for us, she’s following her dreams raised eyebrows notwithstanding.
The average age of U.S. farmers is 55. Who is going to grow our food when they retire? We’re really going to have to give some serious thought to recruiting the next generation of farmers in our country.
–Deborah Kane
HELP WANTED: YOUNG FARMERS
Written by Zoë Bradbury
For Fall 2007
Every five years, the United States Department of Agriculture conducts something called the Agricultural Census. And every five years, once all the results are tallied—the irrigated acres summed, the number of women farmers counted, the gross revenues from hog production totaled (and much more)—without fail, an alarm bell sounds.
With no offense intended to my spunky, fiftysomething parents and their baby boomer friends, U.S. farmers are getting old. The national average has climbed to 55.3 years as of the last agricultural census in 2002 (the 2007 census is currently underway), and the trend is ever upward.
Well, big whoop, my parents are muttering as they read this. Fifty is the new 30 anyway....
Though that may be true, the sirens are clanging not only because farmers are getting older (in fact, more than a quarter of U.S. farmers are older than 65), but because young farmers are getting scarcer. A mere 5.8% of farmers are now under 35, compared to 16% in 1982.
If you’re digesting these numbers over breakfast, you might stop to wonder who’s going to milk the cows and grow the grain for your morning bowl of corn flakes.
“Africa!” hollers Steven Blank, author of the controversial book, The End of Agriculture in the American Portfolio, which insists that agriculture is heaving its last and final breath in America. He argues that food production sits at the bottom of the “economic food chain,” and as nations develop and land becomes valuable for other uses (like manufacturing, houses, golf courses, and high-tech industries), it makes “natural” economic sense to farm out food production to less developed countries which sit lower on the economic food chain and whose land and labor carry a cheaper price tag. Food safety, food security, and the end of cheap energy are topics notably absent from the book.
But for reasons cultural, ecological, gastronomic, and economic, there are plenty among us who balk at the notion that agriculture should ever disappear from our landscapes, or farmers from our ranks. Given America’s roots in agriculture, it’s fair to wonder how we’ve moved from the Jeffersonian ideal of independent family farmers forming the backbone of our society, to a time when federal prison inmates outnumber farmers—an occupation that has now been removed as a category from the U.S. Population Census.
Of the many headlines that attempt to explain the simultaneous industrialization and senescence of American agriculture, these are but a few:
• The combustion engine headline from the early 1900s: “Tractors & cheap energy make draft animals, people, obsolete”
• The post-WWII headline: “Nerve gas & bombs reincarnated as pesticides, fertilizer: Technology replaces farmers”
• The still-relevant 1970s Farm Bill headline: “Government to pay farmers to overproduce commodity crops: Prices plummet, farms forced to get big or get out”
• The 1980s farm crisis headline: “Interest rates skyrocket, farmers default on debt, suicide rates surge”
• The ongoing corporate agribusiness concentration headline: “Four companies control 80% of U.S. meatpacking: Monopoly control takes its toll on family farmers”
• The ubiquitous credit headline: “Farming seen as high risk, lenders balk at making farm loans”
• And, of course, the real estate headline: “Land prices through the roof due to development pressure”
There’s a joke that asks, “What do you call a dairy farm willed to the kids?” And the reply: “Child abuse.” Which, in addition to all of the structural, economic, political, and technological forces headlined above, points to a cultural element in this saga of farmer aging and attrition. It’s the mainstream stereotype that has come to haunt agriculture in our ever-urbanizing world—that farmers are dullards, geezers, and hicks, and that farming is what you do when you’re not savvy enough to do something—anything—else.
As often as I get a surprised, slightly perturbed look when I tell people I’m going back to farming in a few months, I am reminded of how deeply rooted that stereotype has become in various corners of our society, and how far removed most of America has gotten from the notion of farming as a viable occupation. (I’d be curious to know when a high school guidance counselor last suggested farming to an impressionable senior.)
In the urban mainstream, the connection to agriculture has boiled down to tidy, iconic, disembodied exposure: corn on the cob at county fairs, glossy images at the grocery store, and cowboy boots on the retail shelf at Ross Dress for Less. So much so that the person I’m sitting next to on the airplane has to strain to understand why a young, college-educated woman would make such an unglamorous, low-paid career choice over, say, investment banking. As obvious as it may be to me, it’s not always easy to explain to someone who hasn’t seen and smelled the mercury shatter of dew on a field of broccoli at dawn, or tended a tomato all the way from seed to sauce.
But there is also a cadre of people who do get it, and still others who are working to both break down the multiple barriers to entry for emerging farmers and increase the chance of success for newly established farms. Studies have shown that new farm businesses experience high turnover—thousands enter and exit each year—and that the most critical variable to success is experience. The handful of government and non-profit programs that target beginning farmers runs the gamut from technical production assistance to financial planning, market entry to land acquisition. And apprenticeship programs on working farms provide an opportunity for people to try their hands at farming and gain production skills.
At the same time, the agricultural renaissance sparked by the sustainable food movement, and the widespread celebration of local, seasonal, storied food, has shifted the economics to create new opportunity for farmers. For instance, Country Natural Beef, a cooperative made up of over 100 Food Alliance certified cattle ranches throughout the West, has effectively breathed new life into member ranchers’ bottom lines, and subsequently attracted 11 ranch kids back to carry on their family cattle tradition. The wisdom behind their founding motto, “Decommodify or Die!,” has gained traction among all kinds of farmers who, more and more, are finding their survival tightly bound to direct markets, value-added products, and the loyalty of conscientious eaters (like you).
There are some signs that the next generation of U.S. farmers may be gravitating more towards sustainable agriculture, with 18% of organic farmers under the age of 35, compared to 5.8% in conventional agriculture. In Oregon, where we are faced with the unnerving prospect of 25% of our farmers retiring within the next decade, numbers like these help to remind us that opportunity always attends change.
Perhaps our next generation of farmers will be known as “Gen O,” as is the goal of a recently-launched Organic Valley “Generation Organic” new farmer campaign. Given that Organic Valley farmers earn 40 to 60 percent more for their milk than conventional producers, I’d suggest that you consider joining their co-op if you’ve just inherited the much-maligned family dairy farm.
It’s possible that these new farmer programs and market forces might be related to a unique and beautiful little statistic here at home: Oregon, bucking the national trend, grew 58 new farms between 1997 and 2002, from 39,975 to 40,033. Though it’s a humble figure and causality is difficult to tease out, it’s hard to repress hope in the presence of a counter-current number like that.
One thing I can promise: Come 2008, there’ll be at least one more new farm to add to that Census tally, and not a gray hair on my head—yet.
Zoë Bradbury grew up on a farm in southwestern Oregon and farmed with Sauvie Island Organics for three years. She is now working with Ecotrust’s Food & Farms program while she completes her Masters in Rural Development & Food Systems.
Comments
The thought crossed my mind while reading this that, perhaps, with the unstoppable global warming going on, parts of Africa might possibly be among the planet's last arable land in the next fifty years, regardless of the trickle-down undeveloped-world doing-the-first-world's-dirty-work concept. I believe in the end of oil and that global warming has started and it's too late to stop it. Even if all humans everywhere stopped all the environmentally destructive habits we use in our daily lives, the planet will continue to cycle through this period to balance itself and there is nothing we can do with today's technology to stop it. This is why I believe so strongly in local, sustainable practices. There will come a time in my lifetime or my children's lifetime when there will be a need to have local and sustainable food sources in place so that we can survive. I believe the cost of nonrenewable energy sources will prevent us from having the variety we've become accustomed to in a global economy. We will not have the option of getting our oranges from a farm 3,000 miles away. There will be a period of time when the only source of food available to us will be the foods that are grown within a short distance (100 miles or less, I'm thinking.) I'm beginning to sound like Nostradamus now, so I'll close by saying that in a way I fear for that time, but I know that, by doing what I can now to support the agricultural renaissance in the Northwest, I will help my children and grandchildren to survive whatever might come. Viva Cascadia and a thanks to the new generation of American farmers!
Posted by: polishkatie | September 19, 2007 7:41 PM
Great article - I love your enthusiasm. As a young person with enough experience in agriculture to be able to consider it as a career, I am pondering the same issues as you are.
Starting a farm is insane if you add up the risk and the rewards (which is why, as you note, many farms fail). But still, there is no more rewarding field out there.
Coincidentally, I just posted my thoughts on this issue at:
http://www.smallfarmcentral.com/blog/sep/2007/adjective-laden-food-and-contradictions-farming
Posted by: Simon Huntley | September 25, 2007 6:12 AM
Simon,
I enjoyed your article at Small Farm Central - indeed, you cut right to the quick of it. And lo and behold, it turns out that Small Farm Central is just the resource I needed today! Having just nailed down my own domain name for my farm a couple of days ago, I'm now grappling with all those questions about web hosting, design, and the vocabulary challenges that face someone who prefers to learn the language of botanical plant names rather than website lingo. Glad you're out there for us! I'll be visiting Small Farm Central again soon.
Posted by: Zoe Bradbury | September 25, 2007 2:29 PM
Zoe,
Glad you found the information at Small Farm Central helpful. That is the point.
Let me know if you have any more questions..!
-Simon.
Posted by: Simon Huntley | September 26, 2007 7:28 AM
Hello Zoë,
I just read your article on edibleportland.com about the declining age of farmers in America. My partner and I are just beginning work on a small organic farm in Nethers, Virginia. It’s about 20 minutes southwest of Sperryville, VA, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge. I am 29, my partner is 38. Right now we are starting to clear the land and begin conditioning soil for our raised beds. We have 14 acres, but most of it is mountainside. There are about 3 acres of bottomland suitable for farming.
We’ve never done anything other than produce gardening around our home, and while we have the motivation and the desire, we are desperate to find experienced farmers to impart some knowledge. We are in search of any helpful information that might get us on our way, or any resources that might be useful to us as we endeavor this farm.
Thanks!
Meg
Posted by: Meg Cornett | September 26, 2007 11:13 AM
Meg,
Thanks for your wonderful note. What an exciting time for you two! There are lots of resources that have been helpful to me as a grower over the years - general resources like the ATTRA website, Knott's Handbook for Vegetable Growers, Eliot Coleman's books, some of the SARE publications (like "Managing Cover Crops Profitably"), etc. Specifically in this transition back to farming (I've been in grad school for the past year and a half), one of the most useful thing for me has been to reach out to our extension service, get to know my local agent, and have them connect me to other resource people who can help with things like enterprise budgets, irrigation questions, you name it. Every person I talk to knows someone else who can help answer yet another question. I've been working closely with a professor from Oregon State's horticulture program who is a friend and mentor and he's been great for posing good, hard questions, making me think outside my self-constructed box, and giving access to other resource folks at the University.
Equally critical has been tapping my network of local farmers and getting advice along the way...like, "where do you buy your cover crop seed?" Or simply visiting other farms and paying attention to how they designed their irrigation system, or wash & packout area. I've learned a tremendous amount that way - farmer to farmer exchange is invaluable because you benefit from all the lessons learned of other people, which combined is DECADES of experience. That learning can save you a lot of time, money and mistakes!
I'm hoping to use draft horses on my farm, so knowing the small sub-culture of horse farmers here in Oregon has been wonderful - they've taken me under their wing and are helping me find equipment, look for a team, and continue building my driving skills. Just having that sense of support makes a huge difference.
I'm also putting a lot of time into both business and crop planning. I'm writing a business plan, and have enrolled in an IDA program - Individual Development Accounts, which are a 3:1 matched savings program. I would imagine you would have access to it in Virginia as well - ask around with your Small Business Development Center, or do a Google search for your area. Usually they're administered through a local non-profit or community development agency. Basically you put money away each month for a year, the program matches it 3:1, and then you can use that money to invest in something you need for the farm - equipment, land, infrastructure, etc. You have to be under a certain income & asset level to qualify, but it's worth looking in to.
I suppose the internet has been really useful along the way as well - for quick research, finding suppliers for things, etc.
I hope this gives you some good leads to follow. Congratulations on taking this huge step towards land and farming. It's great to know that there are more and more of us out there. And make sure that the Census counts you next time around!
Happy Autumn,
Zoë
Posted by: Zoe Bradbury | September 26, 2007 11:16 AM
Zoe,
Go for it and check into the Grange in your area, they are large knowledge bank starting to die off and most of them would just like to see the knowledge passed on. Wicked sense of humor too when you start to get into the thick of it and need a good laugh!
Posted by: corina | September 27, 2007 9:33 PM
Hi Zoe,
I personally know three people, myself and two friends, who have wanted to farm for years now, but can't afford land and start-up costs. Sadly, our parents won't/can't loan us money because they think it's a bad idea. Probably for all those reasons stated in the article. We have studied and kept up with sustainable agriculture, and would like to make a go of it. Any ideas or organizations out there to help get people ON the land?
Thanks, Lauren
Posted by: Lauren Storm | September 28, 2007 8:17 AM
Lauren,
California and Washington both have "FarmLink" programs - non-profits that work to connect aspiring farmers with land. Check out: http://www.californiafarmlink.org/ and http://www.wafarmlink.org/.
Unfortunately, Oregon doesn't yet have a FarmLink program, but the wheels are turning. A coalition of folks here has recently come together to explore the possibility of launching one.
In the meantime, you should look into the IDA savings program (Individual Development Accounts) I mentioned in my reply to Meg. IDA's exist specifically to help you afford start-up costs associated with a new business. MercyCorps NW (http://www.mercycorpsnw.org/) administers an IDA savings program here in Portland. They also have a "landbank" - relationships with various landowners around the region who have agreed to make their property available to new & emerging farmers. MercyCorps NW primarily works with immigrant and refugee farmers, but it would be worth checking in with them.
And finally, I've been surprised by the number of times I've ended up in conversation with someone who owns a 5 acre lot outside the city who is tired of mowing the whole thing and would love to have half of it farmed - the most unlikely folks sometimes! The message being, talk to EVERYONE. Someone might just have a backyard big enough to get started in...
Keep us posted on your journey.
Cheers,
Zoë
Posted by: Zoe Bradbury | October 3, 2007 10:04 AM
Hi!
Wonderful article, and a subject that has been plagueing me as well with what will happen. I am 25 and in grad school for nutrition, but my family has 63 acres in Durango, Colorado that is practically turn key for farming. However I have little experience, and there is a small market there that may not support the effort. Do you have any ideas?
Alex
Posted by: Alex | October 29, 2007 4:01 PM
Hi Alex,
I suppose the question is whether you yourself want to farm, or whether you simply want your family land to be farmed. If it's the former, then start getting dirty - try your hand at growing food and see if the glove fits (apprenticeships, on-farm employment, community gardens,etc. could be options). Find an experiential entry point that will let you dig in firsthand: get it in your pores, feel what it's like to be dog tired at the end of the day, work through blisters to grow new callouses, eat sweet dirty carrots right out of the ground, stress out about weather, money. And see if you like it. If yes, learn more, go home, start small. Keep your overhead low. Talk to all the other local farmers about everything. Meet your extension agent. Write a business plan. Talk to food buyers in Durango. Be ready to make mistakes and learn a lot.
From what I know about Durango, I'd guess there'd be some great market opportunities there for Durango-grown food. I'm not familiar with the local food scene there, but it looks like you have a farmers market, which is always a good sign that there's demand and that the demand could grow.
On the other hand, if it's the latter (that you don't want to be a farmer yourself but want the land to be farmed) I suppose I'd talk to my family about a vision for how those 63 acres should be stewarded. It could be an opportunity for one of the many landless farmers out there, or a number of farmers. Some inspiring collective farming models exist where multiple, independent growers on one parcel of land share equipment, packout/processing infrastructure, water, etc., but each run their own businesses. Check out the Intervale in Vermont (http://www.intervale.org/) or ALBA (http://www.albafarmers.org/). Both are non-profits that serve to incubate and support beginning/small farmers.
Above all, follow your heart. If you don't actually love farming, there's no sense in forcing yourself to do it in order to try to curb the aging trend within agriculture. You'll be miserable AND you'll grow ugly carrots! Your expertise in nutrition - if in fact that's where your passion lies - is as important a contribution to the overall health of the food system as farming is. We all have our part to play - and if I've learned anything as a farmer, it's that there's strength in diversity.
Posted by: Zoe Bradbury | October 31, 2007 5:06 PM
hi! i'm an aspiring sustainable farmer, still an undergrad but I really want to start getting some work experience in on a farm before I graduate and do more apprenticeships and such. This is kind of random but i'm wondering if you know of any farms here in portland or surrounding areas or some source I could look up to find somewhere to do a kind of internship in the summer?
Posted by: Claire Wright | November 19, 2007 4:47 PM