The Next Generation of Farmers

PrintEmail

The way we look at food in this country is changing. Mounting evidence shows that we need to start eating food that is fresher and less processed if we want to improve our health and our environment.
 
As we start asking more questions about where our food comes from, the benefits of small, sustainable farms become more apparent. And more and more young people are starting to think, I can do that. But with prohibitive land prices and overhead costs, young people have to find creative ways to break into the industry.
 
Enter 29-year-old Becky Rushford, from Canaan, New York. After attending two different colleges and pursuing numerous majors, she decided to do an apprenticeship in farming and realized it was the career for her.
 
Rushford turned this dream into a sustainable business, researching and planning a farming system for a client. At the time of the interview, she was putting together a plan to raise chickens profitably.
 
She is also out in the field, working the land, in a solo operation. Currently, she is managing one-half acre of farmland in upstate New York for some clients who run a café, restaurant and grocery store in Brooklyn. They invested in the farm so they could have sustainable, regional crops to supply their businesses. The half acre may seem small, but it can produce more than 10 tons of produce, Rushford said.*
 
Still, farming is a dying occupation. Less than one percent of people in the United States claimed farming was their primary occupation in the last U.S. census. And forty percent of farmers in this country are 55 years old or older, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
 
“The graying of the farm population has led to concerns about the long-term health of family farms as an American institution,” the EPA states in the agriculture section of its web-site.
 
This translates into opportunity, which young professionals like Rushford are seizing.
 
Rushford gets much of her information from books and other farmers, including her more experienced neighbors. She also consults online databases, though the networks she is a part of are not online. There are Web-based agricultural networks for young farmers, too, such as Farmers for the Future.
 
“It’s exciting for older farmers to have younger farmers knocking on their doors,” Rushford said. “I’d say farmers are really eager to share their knowledge with other farmers.”
 
Her original contract was to stay with the clients until March to finish building a winter greenhouse. But now she has decided to stay on through the year to develop the rest of the farm.
 
“I have to say what I’m doing right now is excellent,” as far as gaining experience, Rushford said.
 
Her salary is enough for her to get by, but she has to live frugally and she does not have health insurance or enough to set aside for long term savings.
 
“I have a vision for myself and ultimately it’s not going to be satisfying to be a caretaker for someone else,” Rushford said.
 
Eventually, she would like to get involved in urban farming and create something like an educational market garden, rooftop garden or shelter for girls centered around farming.
 
Rushford suggested that other young people who want to go into farming should start by doing an internship. She did hers through the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training, or CRAFT, at a farm in Massachusetts. She worked alongside two other apprentices for an entire growing season and lived in a cabin on the farm.
 
“I wouldn’t advise anyone to skip college,” Rushford said. “It doesn’t hurt to have a degree to fall back on. And sometimes you don’t turn a profit for the first few years, so you need some side work.”
 
She also recommends taking a business class on farming. She enrolled in Farm Beginnings, a farmer-led educational training and support program designed to help people who want to evaluate and plan their farm enterprise. Farm Beginnings has programs in the northeast and Midwest.
 
“A lot of young people, especially in non-agricultural areas want to be a part of this,” Rushford said. “Food is the lowest common denominator. Everyone needs to eat.”
 
If you enjoyed this post on young people going into farming, check out this piece on the growing problems of our food production system.
 
(Photo of Becky Rushford)
 
*Correction: This piece has been updated to accurately reflect that Becky Rushford manages one-half acre, not one acre, and that a farm that size can produce more than 10 tons of produce, not 21,000.