The folks at Varsity Branding keep their eyes peeled for emerging trends. One recent blog post tackled the issue of our aging agricultural workforce.
According to a 2007 Department of Agriculture farming census, the average age of a farmer is 57. The average age of an American millionaire is 57. Only 10% of our millionaires are under 40 but nobody worries about a future shortage of rich people. (More Cool Facts HERE) There is of course a little problem hidden in these numbers. Everybody wants to be a millionaire but few young people dream of a life on the farm.
The agricultural industry faces a host of problems. Soaring taxes, land values and operating costs hurt bottom lines. Competition from multinational conglomerates has swallowed long-standing distribution channels. While subsidies and relief programs help alleviate some of these problems, there’s another issue facing American famers, and it’s a problem that no one could have stopped: aging.
While the media have picked up on farming woes with films such as King Corn and The Real Dirt on Farmer John that bring to light problems for the next generation of farmers, they forget about this generation.
One sign of hope can be found in the growing locovore-sustainable producer ecosystem. The Farmers’ Market here in Ithaca will be opening this weekend and many of the farmers who sell there look like this…
and this…
