O/T Helping Young Guys Get into Farming

A discussion on the IH/Farmall forum got me thinking. The topic was young people being mechanically illiterate. We are facing a serious shortage of young farmers as the average age of an American farmer is now 55.

I've been blessed to have a grandpa who got me very interested in mechanical stuff at a very young age. When I was in high school I got the chance to work for a family friend on his grain farm. I've now helped him close to 10 yrs and through him I've learned how to farm.

But I know 20 guys my age who would love to farm full or part time, but theres no money or chance to get involved. I'm lucky to have the chance. Most older guys get out and their ground gets swallowed up into a huge 2000 acre operation. Theres one less small farm that could teach 3 or 4 sons, grandsons, and neighbor boys about farming throughout the coming years. Its a darn shame.

Maybe the older guys could try to teach young guys and help put them into a situation where they could get seriously involved. When I am older I hope to give a kid the opportunity to become a farmer by offering equipment in exchange for hours, offering rental ground and going in on a % of the inputs. At the least I can teach him the trade just as my family friend has taught me. I will be paying attention to young guys that help me and will do this if I can find a young guy with the interest and motivation. That way my farm will continue on. I think we should all think about ways we can include young guys in our operations. $10 an hour is great money for a high schooler, and with patience the stuff he learns will last a lifetime.

A friend's son wanted to farm. Their neighbor gave her farm to him. Had been raised farming but would not have been able to buy one for a long time. She had lived there her entire life, was 90 yrs. old, and knew he would keep it going as a farm.

How in the world could a young person make it on the farm today even if the farm was given to you?

There is only one major problem. Where are you going to find younger kids that even want to farm? You would be surprised that many kids growing up on farms now don't want to stay doing the same thing the rest of their life. Some do,but not enough. I personaly did not grow up on a farm. I did however help out with a couple neighbors with small farms. I knew a few kids in high school who grew up on family farms and they didn't want anything to do with it. In fact they were rather embarrassed about it.

I agree. Even if you had brand new equipment given to you it isn't going to work out..

They'd have to be smart about it. This would be a bad year to start growing corn, but things balance out and overall you make decent money. One years bad, another is good. Be smart about getting insurance. I know several guys that drove school buses and farmed full time, many still do. It'd take a motivated young guy, but the opportunity is out there.

I don't know all the exact details,but my cousin got a young guy from his church started by giving him half the milk check and all the heifer calves on a ten year deal.

starting farmers need land, old coots complain about no young farmers then rent theirs to some big shot a-hole

I have quite a bit to say about this topic. Being 19 here is a little from the "kids" point of view. I plan on farming full time when I get out school assuming I can find a place and make it work. My parents bought this place 2 years ago and most people said we wouldn't make any money blah blah blah. The difference between most people who start out is we didn't buy anything on credit. Now it is slow farming with a MM M670 and a McCormick Deering WD-9 but it got it done this summer and the input costs were a lot less than people who have borrowed money for newer equipment or whatever.

Now I don't think that young people can make it on conventional agriculture. There is no way that I could buy a dryland wheatfarm in SEWY and go on a wheat/summerfallow rotation. Organic farming, non tradional crops, and other ways are the way to go in my opinion. I actually get a kick out of reading grips about artifical fertilizers when it would be so much cheaper to use green plow down crops or legumes interseeded with corn or a taller crop. ANYWAYS back onto topic...

Another point I have is most older farmers say it would be nice for the younger generation involved and so on and when that oppertunity comes most older people would rather sell out to rent out to a big operation. Last year a neighbor I cut hay for for several years was just letting all his farm ground sit idle (about 800 acres) so I asked if he would be interested in renting it out and he said no he was going to farm it. About a month later he sold the entire place minus the house to a big operator. Personally that doesn't make any sense since he had that ground handed to him and he just wasted it away but whatever not my deal. I see it all the time around here most of the ground is now farmed by bigger operators and the small farmers usually just rent out to them instead of the smaller guy.

In summary I hear this quite often that the young people don't want to get involved but I don't find it true. I have lots of friends that would love to farm but simply know they can't afford to get started or are actually discouraged by the older people to do it.

I think it really depends on what type of farming you are thinking about. I am 29 and feel that I am part of the 'up and coming' generation of farmers. My idea of farming is not 100s of acres of grains or herds of animals. We are 'truck' farming. With 17 acres, 40 year old equipment, and 2 full time jobs (off the farm), my wife and I are starting to make a go of the farm. We sell fresh fruits, vegetables, and cut flowers directly to consumers at local farmers markets.

I've been involved in this type of farming for 20 years now. In the past 3 years there has been an interesting trend, kind of a changing of the gaurd. There are fewer vendors from my parents generation (50-60yr old). However they have been replaced (in greater numbers) by vendors that are my generation. Most are just starting out and most work jobs off the farm. While I'm sure that farming will never be the way many remember it; Farming is alive and well. Farming has always been a struggle and isn't for everyone, but there will always be people willing to rise to the challenge.

Well, I'm going to stick my two cents worth in here as one of the younger generation. I don't come from a farm family and I wasn't raised in the country, however I would like to farm.

Now for my take on things. I don't expect to get rich, I hope to get by, and if I'm lucky - comfortably. To my mind I need to fit my lifestyle to what I can earn - I reckon I'm better off saving a buck than earning one (even better, they don't tax you on it). In my mind my farm would have a (relatively) wide variety of produce both to aid in disease resistance and help secure against particular losses. It would feature both livestock and arable. I will use exclusively older (40's-70's) gear that I can repair. I also aim to offer mechanical services/restoration services during the quieter/winter month for some extra income.

How do I intend to do this? At the moment I'm doing an apprenticeship as a heavy duty mechanic. I see this as an insurance policy on which I can fall back if all else fails as well as a useful sideline. I take every opportunity to talk to farmers and learn what I can as well as working on my own projects. I've had a garden the last couple of years from which I've learned a lot and I'm now renting several acres which will take some work to clean up but should provide a useful area with which to experiment and practice. I hope that after this coming year I will try keeping livestock. Hopefully I will have saved enough that in ten years or so I'll be able to buy a place of my own and by that time I'll have learnt enough to make a serious go of it.

Why do I want to do this? Partly because I enjoy working for myself, partly because I really enjoy growing things, partly because I want to know where my food comes from and what's been done from it, partly because I want a different quality of life, and I love the variety.

I'm sure it'll be more difficult than I can imagine and more than once I'll want to pack it in, but all I can do is try.

Any thoughts on this are greatly appreciated.

Sam

I live in west MI. Recently bought 36 acres of land. I agree that it is very difficult for young people to get started. Most of the land around here is controlled by 5,000 acre plus operations. I am going to try and get something started by growing produce for local farm markets. I tried contacting local farm bureau and extension offices but it seemed like they did not want to help the little guy. This was dissapointing. If any body has some advice or information it would be apreciated.

Too many people, not just young people, want to start at the top. Either that or they say they want to be farmers but they really want to be tractor drivers. It amazes me how little understanding of business management a lot of people have wanting to get into the business. I like tractor driving, but I make way more money if I hire a lot of that done and spend my time in managing the business.

It is tremendously expensive to get started in farming but so is starting any large business from scratch. IMO there are two ways to get in and make a go of it. Animal agriculture, particularly dairy, though hogs and chickens can work too. All of them bring in regular income. I happen to be partial to milk because its not all tied up into contracts and you dont have to sink a mint of capital upfront. The other way is niche marketing. It can be organic, vegetables, hay, anything that you can distinguish yourself from the competition.

Hey sam, shoot me an email

[email protected]

I am 4th generation farmer rancher on both sides, I have plenty of farmer rancher skills. After a stint in the US Army and graduating from college I realized there was no place for me on the family farms. I went off to the big city to make my way in the world. I have done 20 plus years in law enforcement and Fire Dept. Several of my brothers and cousins that love farming failed at it. Now 1140 acres of that farm is mine. More will be I think. My only real competator for the rest of the land is my cousin, a Nurse. I am head over heals in love with her, will do whatever I can to make her susccessful, and I think she feels the same about me. My belief is if a young man or women wants to farm and it is not given to them, go to college, make serious money, and buy into it. The non college grads in my family, or those with degrees in something stupid like English or History are at idle. Others my have different ideas and I would love to here them

[i:654c4848f0]...Either that or they say they want to be farmers but they really want to be tractor drivers...[/i:654c4848f0]

That would be me. I'd LOVE to work on a farm and play with all the neat toys, but I know for a fact I don't have the business sense (or financial huevos) to be a success at farming.

And by the time I "retire" and can afford to be a hired man, I'll be too dang old.

Guess I'll stay on my little hobby patch.

Have done. Sam