The National Young Farmers Coalition's report Building a Future with Farmers covers the demographics, issues and needs of young farmers (those under the age of 40).
The quick summary is young farmers are quite different than old farmers.
The Young Farmers Coalition's study numbers on who these young farmers illustrates this.
Modern Farmer's article on the study nicely covers the demographics of young farmers:
The demographic picture of the survey is interesting: 60 percent are women, 69 percent have degrees beyond high school, 75 percent didn’t grow up in a farm family, and 75 percent describe their farms as “sustainable.” (63 percent described their farms as “organic,” though due to the cost, many have not been certified as such by the USDA.)
These stats are dramatically different from the demographics of older farmers. They are mostly male, grew up in a farm family, tend to be high school educated and are much less likely to be running a sustainable or organic farm.
Young farmers also tend to operate small farms of less than 50 acres and are more involved in direct selling to consumers. Older farmers tend to have larger farms and use the traditional farm product distribution systems.
Young farmers are important because the average American farmer is old. According to the report:
Farmers over the age of 65 now outnumber farmers under 35 by a margin of six to one, and U.S. farmland is overwhelmingly concentrated in the hands of older farmers.
But the good news is for only the second time in the last century, USDA data shows that the number of farmers under 35 years old is increasing.
The shift to farm-to-table food and the growing consumer interest in sustainable and organic farm products is creating new opportunities for small farms.
The St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank study Harvesting Opportunity: The Power of Regional Food System Investments to Transform Communities nicely covers this topic.
It's not just young farmers who are recognizing the growing trend towards sustainable and organic farms and farm-to-table food. The tech startup Farmers Business Network just announced they raised an addition $110 million.
According to an article in Tech Crunch on the funding, one way they're going to spend this money is:
FBN is further building out a marketing product that promises to connect farmers with thousands of possible buyers who may want their specific specialty crops and who will pay a premium to know more about the source.
We believe the trends and shifts driving the increase in the number of small farms and young farmers will continue to grow.
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