A week ago I attended a Young Farmers event at nearby Greig Farm. Most of us give very little thought to how the food we eat gets to the dinner table.
At the event it was brought to our attention that the average age of a farmer in the US is 57 so in the next 20 years many will be retiring. The question is who, will fill the gap? Young farmers. Easier said than done because of issues facing the present young farmers. The major issue is that of land ownership. Many of them cannot afford land and have to resort to renting which has major drawbacks such as the fact that if the land is rented the young farm cannot put in any permanent infrastructure since they don't own the land.
Ben Shue, the speaker at the event is one such young farmer. Ben Started Hearty Roots in 2004 as a CSA(community supported agriculture) where members buys shares and pick up produce weekly or bi-weekly in season. This form is operated on 25 rented acres on the existing 500 acres Grieg Farm.
I was struck by the fact that many of these young farmers did not come from a farming background but learned organic farming from other farmers. Young Farmers have now banded together to share ideas as well as better farming processes, the network is called Farm Hack.
The best part of the event was the tour of the farm, and this was a tour with a spectacular view, as you could see the Catskill Mountains in the background. We first stopped by a large garlic field and this was of interest to me since I had never seen planted garlic - just the end products. Ben also explained the reason for planting a variety of crops; by doing this there is less chance of an entire season getting wiped out as the various crops are affected by different diseases or insects, so this is a kind of control method.
At the end of the tour we returned to Gigi market which is also located in a large barn on Grieg farm. There we had more of an opportunity to mingle and enjoy tasty refreshments prepared by the staff at Gigi's market. Again there were additional speeches on why it is important to support the young farmers.
Copyright © by Jennifer Fivelsdal, all rights reserved-Who will fill the gap now that the average age of a farmer is around 57?
Jennifer Fivelsdal - JFIVE HOMES REALTY LLC - 845-758-6842- jennifer@jfivehomes.com
www.jfivehomes.com or www.midhudsonhomevalue.com
wow what a great blog..thank for sharing this interesting fact.. Yeah so who is going to fill that gap.. well I hope that we will have enough farmers to produce more healthy food and crops we need ;-)
Thank you again and have a productive week
Hosai Nasir
Hi Jen,
Interesting, but if it's 57 now, I wonder what it was before? Btw, I think that's about the same age as the average REALTOR, isn't it? I think that it's in the mid-50's somewhere.
Hi again,
Okay I'm back, NAR says the avg. age of a REALTOR is 52 and broker is 57. Other sites have median age from 54-56, so it's somewhere in that range, not at all surprising to me.
This article hits home because of the rural lifestyle and how it is ever changing. The age of the average farmer and from the looks of the average realtor is very amazing to learn. I wonder what each are going to do as the years past? Cultivating new persons in each of these careers are very important, i.e. food and shelter. Great post!
Jennifer, Being from Kansas I have lots of farmers in my family but you are right as they retire there's not someone there to fill in the gap. My husband's family has land that has been in their family for 100 years but there's not anyone stepping up to farm it.
Hosai It is an important subject matter which affects us all.
Lynda I see what you meean the number varies, My guess it is late fifties to early sixties
Jewel thank you for stopping by. This subject matter will need some consideration as it affects our food supply.
Jennifer this does sound like our farmers could be extinct soon. I hope children of farmers or children growing up now find farming in their blood!
Jennifer around here many of the farms have been bought by developers and turned into housing developments. It would be a disaster for this county if we became dependent on other countries for our food.
Joan I do hope the gap will be filled.
George I hope that will not be the case.
Interesting piece of information. I was unaware of this. Thanks for sharing this information