01/16/09 Young Farmers

Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman once said it was little wonder why youngsters are not excited about farming. He said that while people living in town got to go to the movies and the nightclubs, farmers had to be out at 5 in the morning slopping hogs and milking cows and he couldn't blame American kids for wanting to get on a bus and leave their one horse towns for the excitement and lights of the city. Strong words from a Kansas boy who grew up in a farming community. Apparently he isn't alone in his thinking. News reports say that the traditional pattern of family-operated farms being handed from parent to child has become less common as fewer farm children choose farm careers. It's estimated that the annual number of farmers under age 35 declined from 40,000 during the early 80's to 15,500 during in the nineties. Idaho's Young Farmers and Ranchers State Chairman Chris Dalley says the challenge is that young people perceive farming as being low pay hard work 7 days a week when they could be& (Dalley) "Sitting at a computer 5 days a week and make twice as much money." Chris does believe that the future of young farmers returning to the fold is through education. They can learn about high tech methods that reduce cost, increase yield and increase profitability. (Dalley) "They can come out of college and they can see that these 4 years that I put into college, I can make beneficial on a farm."