Young Farmers Optimistic About Future of Agriculture
by: Anne Keller. a director of news services for the American Farm Bureau Federation.


More than 800 young farmers and ranchers from across the United States recently gathered in Baltimore to learn about the latest advances and opportunities in agriculture. They also had time to visit a few Maryland farms to see first-hand how fellow farmers tackle the challenges and appreciate the gifts of farming in the Mid-Atlantic region. Perhaps most importantly, these energetic, hopeful young farmers and ranchers from more than 40 states got to share farm experiences and provide possible solutions to each other’s challenges back home.
 
While attending the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual conference for farmers and ranchers between the ages of 18 and 35, many also participated in an informal survey to gauge their views of agriculture and its future. While expenses are way up, higher grain prices are one reason many folks in agriculture are feeling better about the future. After years of break-even grain prices, these young Farm Bureau members indicated they believe they have solid futures in agriculture.
 
The availability of land and farm facilities and overall profitability remain the top challenges, they said. However, they also believe they are better off today than five years ago, and they are more optimistic.
 
Despite facing some significant challenges, young farmers and ranchers are enthusiastic about the future of agriculture, according to AFBF’s Young Farmer and Rancher Chair Townsend Kyser, a young farmer and catfish producer from Greensboro, Ala.
 
Following land and facility availability (36 percent) and overall profitability (20 percent) as the two top concerns, young farmers and ranchers cite increasing urbanization and loss of farmland (14 percent), government regulations (11 percent), and the availability and costs of health care (10 percent) as the next most-pressing challenges. Land and facility availability and overall profitability have ranked high in most previous surveys.
 
Once again, the vast majority of young farmers and ranchers (83 percent) said they are more optimistic about farming than five years earlier. When asked if they feel better off now than five years ago, 90 percent indicated they are better off now. Back in 2000, 70 percent said they were better off than five years previously, the lowest percentage since the survey’s inception in 1993.
 
The informal survey provided other insights, as well, into the thinking of today’s young farmers and ranchers. Two-thirds said they believe farm income should come totally from domestic and international markets, while 33 percent said farm income should be supplemented by federal farm program payments.
 
For the first time, young farmers and ranchers were asked if state and local issues, such as property taxes, concern them more than federal issues, and 75 percent responded in the affirmative.
 
Taking care of the environment and practicing conservation stewardship also are important to today’s young farmers and ranchers. Fifty-five percent said they practice conservation tillage in their fields, and 49 percent rotate three or more crops. Forty percent use soil/tissue analysis, and 36 percent employ integrated pest management and field scouting.
 
Taken together, these findings should give hope to those who care about rural America and hope young folks do, too. The hundreds of young farmers and ranchers who traveled to Baltimore are proof the future of agriculture is in caring and competent hands.

3/24/08