7-19 FB Young Farmers
Members of Congress have tough budgetary decisions to make, but the difficulty of making those decisions pales in comparison to the choices and challenges young rural Americans face in trying to get a foothold in farming and ranching. I have spent the last several years attending FFA meetings, general farming and ranching meetings and there seems to be a collective feeling that America’s ranchers are getting gray, meaning that young people are not getting into farming. Well, Traci Bruckner, Assistant Director for Rural Policy at the Center for Rural Affairs, begs to differ: “You know when you say young people aren’t interested we have actually found that not to be true in fact it is exactly the opposite. Young people are incredibly interested in getting into agriculture but they have so many barriers to overcome. It’s hard to get a foothold in the business and make that their full-time employment and that is what we are hoping these federal policies can do is help break down some of those barriers.
