The next generation

In the last blog I asked this question: “Who will produce our food and steward the land in the coming years?” I gave a brief spill on how our farming population is aging at an alarming rate and the massive generational transfer of land ownership that is about to occur. Folks the answer to my question is simple, it will take the young and the old farmers to keep our farming heritage alive and productive. We need a seamless succession model to mold the young and older farmers together. I believe this will ultimately be the key to our generational transfer of land and knowledge. It is my personal belief that farmers and consumers will be the catalyst for change, not government programs designed to give young farmers an upper hand.

How will we achieve this transfer? Older, established farmers need to provide educational opportunities to the young aspiring farmers. We must educate farmers with real world experiences in the form of internships, apprenticeships, or even trade schools specialized in farming. These opportunities give young folks the power to close the knowledge gap. It takes an immense amount of skill and knowledge to be a successful farmer. I’m not only a professional in livestock husbandry, but also business management, finances, marketing, logistics, meat processing, welding, diesel mechanics and so much more. I challenge you to spend a day on a farm and you will quickly understand that it takes a serious amount of knowledge to be a successful farmer. There are certainly a handful of great examples throughout the country of apprentice programs and agriculture focused trade schools that are producing the next generation of farmers, but we need a lot more if we are to going to have a real impact on our food system.

Now that we have figured out how we are going to create the knowledge transfer and give young farmers a track to success, how are we going to solve the generational transfer of land ownership? Rural real-estate prices have skyrocketed in recent years, so purchasing the land is out of the question. Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in Swoope, Virginia has perfected the idea of embracing non-family, multi-generational partnerships. Remember in the last editorial I wrote about families pushing their children away from farming in order to get a “real job that pays?” The older generation is inherently weary of the younger. Rightfully so because they simply don’t have the many years of experience and knowledge that the older generation does. That is where the education model closes the gap and vetts young farmers just like a university does for engineers and so forth. It shows that they have done what it takes, a record of success. Young folks need a starting point as much as the older farmers need a partner to hand off the torch. There are a few folks out there working as we speak on platforms to make this farmer paring possible. Historically the most common method of transferring land is through the family, but the future demands otherwise in order to leave a legacy of farming and land stewardship that is more secure. Perhaps it’s time to think outside the traditional models of transferring land ownership. I envision a model of young, aspiring farmers paired with older, retiring farmers who build sweat equity within a contractual agreement to purchase the land at a realistic agricultural value. Most farm and ranches do not have a succession plan that includes the next generation. If we want to rebuild rural America and our agricultural landscapes there needs to be a paradigm shift in the thought process of generational land transfer and ownership.