New Farmers

When talking about the newest generation of farmers one usually visualizes young men and women, many fresh from High School or college, but in truth the age of nearly one third of all new farmers is fifty plus. The reason for this is simply that start up costs for farming is usually far beyond what most young farmers can afford. The face of the “beginning” farmer is also changing to include a wider spectrum of the population; farming is no longer done by predominately young white males. And with people living and working well into their 70’s and beyond, farming as a second or even third career is becoming common place. Many new farms are also starting out small and remaining so intentionally. There’s been concern voiced that the advancing age of the beginning farmer may result in the demise for the future of farming. But the number of people entering farming appears to be remaining stable and in fact increasing. The future of farming can only be made greater with the ever increasing diversity of age and gender that it is enjoying now.