Aging Farmer , from page 3
generation ,” Tom Arganbright said . One of his five children currently farms with him .
Though Jim Arganbright is no longer farming , he said he has not yet established a formal plan for how ownership of his land will transfer to the next generation , something he knows he ought to do . He expects his children to keep it in the family . Farmers in waiting
“ We ’ re not short of young people who want to farm ,” said Duffy , at Iowa State . “ We ’ re short of old people who want to move over .”
One reason farmers are working long past the age when others might retire is that their golden years turned out to be boom years .
“ Often they ’ re the only people that have enough money that they can keep doing it and can keep buying land that comes up for sale ,” Rosmann said .
The ability to buy land is a big hurdle keeping many young people from entering the agriculture industry as producers .
“ There ’ s no way I ’ ll ever be able to own my own ranch ,” said Bo Bigler , 25 , a
graduate student at Colorado State University . He ’ ll graduate at the end of the summer with a master ’ s degree in beef management .
“ The price to buy into it , it ’ s too much ,” Bigler said . “ The only way that somebody can get into it is if a ranch was handed down to them , unless they ’ re millionaires to begin with .”
A 2011 survey from the National Young Farmers Coalition showed access to land and capital to be the single biggest factors keeping young people from getting into farming or ranching . The results also indicated young people were concerned about the environment and interested in small-scale operations .
In Longmont , Colo ., Eva Teague , 31 , has learned how difficult it can be to start a financially sound pig farm . Teague is a grad school dropout turned farmer , originally from the East Coast . Jaded with academia , she moved to Colorado and began working as a farm apprentice . She bought her first pigs a couple of years ago and now leases 15 acres at the base of the Rocky Mountains .
“ Didn ’ t have that much cash , so I paid for feed with the credit card just to get going ,” Teague said .
Right now , her biggest challenge , like that of many other young farmers , is access to capital . She recently secured a lowinterest loan from the federal Farm Service Agency , but it ’ s not enough to get her business off the ground completely . Teague still spends her days on the farm , and every evening working full time as a waitress . Next year she ’ s taking a big leap , quitting her offfarm job and relying on her farm income to sustain herself .
“ I think a lot of young people want to work outside in sort of a ‘ farm camp ’ fun experience ,” Teague said . “ There are fewer people who would like to work really hard , like 50-60 hours a week for not a lot of money , which is what working on a farm is .”
Grant Gerlock is a reporter for Harvest Public Media , a collaboration of public media stations in the Midwest covering issues of food , fuel and field . For more information and stories , go to HarvestPublicMedia . org .
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