Disappearing Farms 2

David Sparks Ph.D.

The graying of America’s farmers has been a concern felt all the way from 4-H to the USDA. In fact, the slogan of 4-H is learn by doing…but they’re aren’t as many kids “doing” anymore. Yesterday Roger Batt, Executive Director of The Coalition for Agriculture’s Future discussed some of the reasons that farms aren’t being replenished with young farmers. A big part of it seemed to be economic opportunity. Today he offers thoughts on what might be done to reverse the trend.

 “I would say the U.S. Government should probably help the farming economy and the agricultural economy, instead of importing all this food that we do into the U.S., help us export more food and help make a little more demand for our crops and our commodities. The second thing is, maybe get rid of some of these subsidies, and have the farmer say, do I want to put this in when I can actually make X number of dollars doing this. Another thing I’ve heard somebody say from the Farmland Trust Organization is  maybe make these farmlands a little more marketable by allowing some kind of a program that might be funded through state, federal or local entities. Put some kind of net asset value on that land instead of saying I can raise this crop for $1000/acre or get $50,000/acre for putting sub-divisions on it.”