Growing Farmers - Farm and Dairy

What does it take to grow a farmer?

Like growing any crop, you can sum it up simply with basics: land, equipment, knowledge and experience. But it’s so much more.

Growing farmers has become critical. The average farmer in the U.S. is a 57-year-old white man, and new farmers don’t crop up overnight. It takes time and nurturing.

It’s not uncommon to hear people worry about who will be the next crop of farmers, where they’ll come from, if there will be enough of them, whether they’ll be able to withstand droughts, storms, pest pressures and other disasters.

In this series, we explore what it takes to grow the next generation of farmers.

Inside the Series

Week 1

Challenges for new farmers are rooted in history
Farm transitions are as much about families as about farms
Let’s rewrite the last will of Mr. Farmer

Week 2

New farmers struggle with land access
A family farm finds a home
Researchers: Health care and child care hold back family farms

Week 3

Partnerships, local connections keep Living City Farms growing
Knowing who knows: Beginning farmers need a strong network

Week 4

Beginning farmers and burnout: Knowing when to say when
Discrimination adds a layer to beginning farmers’ challenges
Remembering where we came from

Week 1

Let’s rewrite the last will of Mr. Farmer

Rebecca Miller -

May 24, 2021

Farming is not for everyone, but it can be rewarding. If we reorient our perspective, it wouldn’t be so daunting for others to follow in our footsteps.

Challenges for new farmers are rooted in history

Sarah Donaldson -

May 20, 2021

Today, the world looks very different than it did in the early 1900s. And yet, some of the same obstacles to farming remain: capital and land access, knowledge, discrimination. In some cases, they’ve gotten worse. Getting into farming, especially as a first generation farmer, is complicated.

Farmers look over the strawberry crop on their farm.

Farm transitions are as much about families as about farms

Sarah Donaldson -

May 20, 2021

Farm transitions are one way that new farmers get into agriculture. But with family, money and changes in who is taking on leadership roles involved, transitions aren't easy.

New farmers struggle with land access

Rachel Wagoner -

May 27, 2021

Land is central to the culture of U.S. farming. It’s also central to what keeps people out of farming. It's expensive, scarce and completely inaccessible for some.

A farm family finds a home

Rachel Wagoner -

May 27, 2021

The Sheplers started farming "without a farm" but they soon found a home of their own. The way they got their land was the opposite of a traditional real estate transaction.

Researchers: Health care and child care hold back family farms

Rachel Wagoner -

May 27, 2021

Ohio State University researchers spoke to farm families all over the country to find how exactly health care and child care needs hold back young farmers.

Two farmers use broadforks to get their soil ready for planting.

Partnerships, local connections keep Living City Farms growing

Sarah Donaldson -

June 3, 2021

Living City Farms started out as an urban farm for Ms. Julie’s Kitchen, a vegan restaurant, in Akron. It’s growing bigger than that, now. But it’s still relying on connections to the restaurant and community.

Knowing who knows: Beginning farmers need a strong network

Sarah Donaldson -

June 3, 2021

Some would call farmers the ultimate jacks — or jills — of all trades. But when it comes to farming, it’s not just about what you know — it’s who you know, and what they know.

Beginning farmers and burnout: Knowing when to say when

Rachel Wagoner -

June 10, 2021

Half of all new businesses will fail by their fifth year, and that includes farms. How do beginning farmers decide when to take a step back from the industry they love.

A woman stands in a garden at a community farm, in Pittsburgh.

Discrimination adds a layer to beginning farmers’ challenges

Sarah Donaldson -

June 10, 2021

It's not easy to be a beginning farmer. But for Black farmers and others who face discrimination, past and present injustices add another layer of challenges.