Who Will Be The New Small Farmer?

Pops · Last edited by Pops on Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:40 pm; edited 1 time in total

Another bump I thought relavant lately.

So for another installment in Pops Green Acres Series:

Who Will Be The New Small Farmer?

They need a nest egg and/or outside income
Possibly memories of a childhood on a farm or at least Jerry Jeff’s LA Freeway
A desire to exit the suburbs and possibly an interest in sustainable/organic farming
Or maybe just some 4-legged lawn ornaments

Yea, I’m talking about the Boomers and at almost 50 I are one.

I can think of at least a dozen folks hereabouts in about the same boat as me,
50+, married, kids grown and gone (or mostly so)
moved here from somewhere else with a little equity (actually I would guess most better off than us),
either grew up on a farm or dreamed of one,
many doing farming to one degree or another

There are some rather counter-culture types, some retired government types, and a couple who just wanted a quiet place to build a house and park the Winnebago between trips. I would say of the people moving here over the last 10 years or so this group is maybe a third or more of the new folks, the rest are 30ish and basically suburbanites with a long commute and a big lawn.

I doubt any are on this board aside from me and for the most part only a little more wise to what the future may hold than the average Joe.

On the other hand, many are starting little operations like blueberry farms, market gardens, raising livestock of all kinds, doing custom harvesting and skilled trades. A surprising number buy my heirloom seedlings and smilingly admit they won’t be back because they intend to save seed! Cool!

I haven’t met any of the Ziffels' in that group but they aren’t Oliver and Lisas' either. (http://www.maggiore.net/greenacres/gacast.asp )

Anyway, it seems to me this trend might be happening in other locations as well and the influx of cash, hippy-type ideas about environmentalism, conservation, healthy foods and newer methods of production could lend a hand to the revival of rural America and local food that I think is going to be a requirement in the post peak years.

It is interesting that the same time frame that most expect PO to rear its head into the national consciousness (now to 2015 +/-) is the same period that the Boomers will be retiring. Now one thing about Boomers is their ability to change, from Naked Fire Dancing Hippies, to VFWs, to Corporate Suck-ups, to Late-Sipping Hedonists.

So, who better to lead to the repopulation of small farm America?

What say you?

PS…
He's an old hippie and he don't know what to do
Should he hang on to the old
Should he grab on to the new…

-- Bellamy Bros.
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Make a plan and work it:

benzoil

Pops-
Actually, I think it will be the 20-somethings to do the settling. There will be a good deal of boomers, too. They're the pioneers. They're leading the charge right now. The bleeding edge, early adopters of rural life, as it were.

The problem is that in addition to the desire, you also must have the financial ability to make the move. Many boomers are counting on selling their big house in the burbs to finance a bundle of their retirement. Houses that even now are declining in value. There's also the issue of all that consumer debt.

I see my generation tied to the millstone as well. Us GenXers deal with change pretty well, too, but its hard to change in midstream of kids, mortgage payments, and brand new minivans to haul all the kid stuff. Oh, and all that consumer debt.

That leaves GenY. They just have college loan debt! Smile

I haven't figured out how they'll afford the land yet, but I suspect that they'll be able to figure that out down the road.

Of course, I am making sweeping generalizations about generational issues. You can't get very specific with macro data like age groups. I personally up and moved to the country in mid-life (late 30s) with 2 kids and a "city-bred" wife. It can be done.

Of the groups you mention, the leading edge of the boomers has the time, capital, and ability to make the move. If they do it now. My guess is that the oncoming recession/depression/cliff (choose one) will wipe out a ton of paper wealth for the boomers just before retirement. That will rearrange the cards a bit.
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TANSTAAFL

Pops

Thanks for the reply ben.

Yea, I am making generalizations too! The folks I know your age are so far in debt especially with the huge funny mortgage and 2-3 cars and whatall that you and a few of the other regulars here sure seem the exception.

I would really like to see a big move by 20-somethings to the country but with good land going upwards of 5-figures per acre and even fairly remote, rocky land around here at $3-4k it sure seems a tough road without a fairly big kitty.

The last protracted war along with books like Silent Spring did cause a sea change, if only until the lure of the dollar won out. The current war and resurgence of a concern about the natural world along with the possibility of a declining ability to dig out a dollar could certainly lead to your outcome.
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Make a plan and work it:

WisJim

I am seeing many 20 to 30 year olds with a serious interest in small farms. They are willing to work as interns with low pay and long hours on existing small farms/CSAs/market gardeners, for the experience, and I have noticed more of them showing up at conferences such as the recent Midwestern Renewable Energy Fair in central Wisconsin, and last winter's Organic Farming Conference. Over the years I have noticed young people that first were just interested, then worked as interns, and now are buying their own property and starting their own (small) farm. These aren't, for the most part, last generation' farmers, who started out with large mortgages and regular loans to buy land, buildings, machinery, seed, fertilizer, livestock, etc. These folks are borrowing as little as possible and trying to grow their business as they can afford to.

Of course, sometimes I suspect that I am exposed to only a very select minority of interesting people, and am perhaps not in contact with or personally aware of many mainstream "ordinary" folks.

benzoil

Pops

I guess I am only looking down my road too Jim.

I found this while looking into the topic.

Kinda ties in with Seahorse’s Opportunity thread…

Thanks for your insight.
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Make a plan and work it:

Ludi

Maybe some of the new small farmers will be young people who share or lease land from the older folks who are too tired to farm themselves, but have some land and want someone to farm it.

This is what Joel Salatin suggests, for older folks to team up with younger folks. It probably helps if the younger folks are actually related to you, but, some of us don't have that option.
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bobaloo · Heavy Crude Joined: Oct 14, 2004 Posts: 476

I think Ludi's right on, us old geezers are too tired and sore to start over again. When I think of how hard I worked in my 20's to get a small farm started I know I could never do it again today.

My kids both would like to live on a small farm, our hope is to be able to buy enough land for them to also live there, so they could do a lot of the work and I can provide the voice of experience, which is about all I'm good for any more.

My kids have a lot of friends their age (18-30) who would like to do the same thing. We have a guest cabin on our place where we sometimes put up their friends for a while in exchange for work around the place. We got our new sheep barn built buy an ex-boyfriend in exchange for a couple of weeks room and board for example.

The WWOOF program is a more organized example of this (Willing Workers on Organic Farms). My youngest daughter spent last winter in Spain working her way around the country staying on small farms and working part-time for room and board.

Colorado-Valley · Intermediate Crude Joined: Aug 16, 2004 Posts: 731

I kind of saw this coming back in 1990 — I knew Albert Bartlett and people like him back in the '70s and '80s — and decided to drop my job as a journalist in D.C. and move back to the family ranch to get ready.

Now we've got the hay and cattle ranch, the (solar) house and and have been doing raised-bed gardening for almost 20 years.

The ranch is paid off, the mountains are very beautiful here and I'm only 53 and can probably cruise for 10 or 15 more years.

Then I'll probably need help. I wonder if there will be a younger generation in a decade that will be interested in doing ranch work, or at least putting up hay?

We don't actually have any kids. That was one of the things I learned not to do from Dr. Bartlett's lectures about exponential population growth.

But now I can see why kids are important for farm families.

They're cheap labor.

Very Happy

Tanada

I would love to go back to the seasonal rythm of life on the farm, but the simple fact is it just doesn't pay. Add to that the fact that I am now entered into my 40's and have health issues from a career in labor (starting on the farm and moving on to groundskeeping/maintenence. It is amazing what falling off of horses, falling off of tractors, falling out of hay lofts, and lifting heavy green bales and shifting peices of granite will do to your back. Not to mention rolling an industrial mower over from attempting to work too steep of a slope when I was a foolish teenager.) and there is no garuntee that if I get the farm back which was sold decades ago that I would be able to farm it. Most likely I would be a part time labor/full time manager and I would have to have help, which again is expensive.
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Oxygen: - An intensely habit-forming accumulative toxic substance. As little
as one breath is known to produce a life-long addiction to the gas, which addiction invariably ends in death.--Isaac Asimov

Ferretlover

Something for the newbie farmer to keep in mind:
2 kids among 5 people killed by methane gas Officials say 4 members of Mennonite family died in Virginia tragedy
Associated Press RICHMOND, Va. - Deadly methane gas emanating from a dairy farm's manure pit killed five people, including four members of a Mennonite family, authorities said. Emergency workers speculate each of the victims climbed into the pit in a frantic attempt to rescue the others. "It was a domino effect with one person going in, the second person going after them," Sheriff Don Farley said. Farley identified the victims as Scott Showalter, 33; his wife, Phyillis, 34; their children, Shayla, 11, and Christina, 9; and Amous Stoltzfus, 24, who worked at the Showalter's dairy farm in the Briery Branch community. Entire story at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19580177/

IslandCrow

I guess I am too old to become a small farmer (over 50 Razz

), so I am just aiming at being a "micro-farmer"...That is to have a very productive 'cottage garden', that will provide some of my food. I still have a way to go learning about what I can grow in my small garden.
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We should teach our children the 4-Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Rejoice.

benzoil

Good thing I don't have a manure pit. When I lived in Chicago we had a massive rain storm once. Everyone had water in their basements. One husband and wife died because she went down into the basement and the dryer had shorted out in the water. He died when he went down to save her.

In any case, the Mennonites should have read Little House on the Prairie. They would lower a candle on a rope down into the well they were digging to burn off the gases.

If people ever do leave the cities in large numbers for small farms, you'll read about stuff like this over and over. People getting thrown from horses, falling under tractors, eating bad musrooms or home canned veggies. Chainsaws. Log splitters. Brush hogs. Combines.

Underwriter's Laboratories on Rural Living
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TANSTAAFL

azreal60

My first response to this thead was going to be...

ME!

But in response to benzoil's post, I have to say, I believe that's what pops was talking about when he mentioned the voice of experience. I would LOVE to have someone show me the ropes in return for back breaking labor. Luckly, with a decent chriopractor near, my back is darn near indestructable. That's why I was offering to help Ludi if I can convince my wife to let me drive all the way to texas when we visit the south in september. I don't know if I'll be able to convince her, but if I can, building rainwater tanks would be a fun learning experence. ( I think that's what was needed)

In short, I'm sure you early adoptors will be able to spread the benefits of your wisdom, just be sure to keep good records of what you do and what works. It will help to convince doubtful thomas's.
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Azreal60

benzoil

Azreal-
This week I am becoming an expert in how to keep raccoons out of the chicken coop. The trial and error method has cost me about 10 chicks and poults over the last week and netted me 3 giant raccoons. By the time the second wave of ex-urbanites arrives, I'll be an expert. And it will only have cost me about $3.50 a bird plus cost of a week's worth of evenings, plus the can of Golden Malrin Fly Bait ($7.50) and a couple liters of Pepsi ($2).

Oh, and I'll have wonderful memories of scraping up chicken bits from various locations around the barn. Always fun to do right before breakfast. Sad

This is a classic book vs. real life case. The book says: make your coop safe from predators. It never tells you how to get rid of predators once you get them. Or what exactly constitutes a safe coop. Luckily, my "source" at the local feed store knew about the fly bait in Pepsi trick.

If food security becomes a real issue, then we'll all have to learn these things again. Right now, losing 10 birds is annoying, but I'll just run down to the grocery store to make up the difference. Hate to have been depending on eating those birds with no other options.
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TANSTAAFL