Come the Revolution

Archive for November, 2008

I know more farmers than most folks. Likely even more than most people training to be farmers. Part of this is that I’ve somehow managed to land jobs in agriculture where I am given the opportunity to meet friends and collegues of my employers. This past Spring I met a fairly young farmer in New York whose name is Greg. He took three years of apprenticeships at the beginning of his 8 year history of farming, landing him right around 30 years of age. He is friendly and curious and, without question, the best connected farmer I’ve ever met. Greg also happens to be the director of NOFA-NY.

Greg looks pretty standard for the image of farmers that I’ve run across. He’s fairly young (as opposed to the Baby Boomer age that is the average for farmers in the US all told), eager, smart, and knowledgeable. I could use those same four words to describe all of the supervisors I’ve had on farms and most of the friends of theirs that I’ve met. This is particularly odd, as the average age of farmers in this country is over 50, but also heartening because it means there’s a new generation of who are aiming to take over for these older farmers. It’s a great image to have to replace what it seems urbanites give to rural folks- you can see some great descriptions of this image in the book Country Matters by Michael Korda- one of old fat men with flannel shirts under their overalls, sporting John Deere hats and being particularly dull as human beings.

I don’t for a moment believe this image of farmers and encourage others not to, either. Whether conventional or organic growers, farmers need to be jacks of all trades- chemists for the pesticides they use, homespun vets if they have animals, tender plant surgeons in the greenhouse, meteorologists, biologists, botanists, and mechanics, as well as being good at sales and marketing. Many have degrees in subjects other than agriculture, many others have at least one degree in soil science or agriculture. Some have other businesses or jobs in addition to farming, and unfortunate necessity for many to be able to have health insurance and make ends meat. The amount of energy and multitasking required is impressive. You show me a farmer who is completely dull and unintelligent and I will show you a farmer who is not the standard in, and probably not very good at, his profession.

It also must be said that women are stepping up in agriculture. Huge numbers of women have become more involved, even as their areas edge toward development. Although the number of farmers has gone down over the past few years (indeed the past two hundred years), women have been percentage wise and numerically more represented over the past decade.

Images: Farmer, by docman; A Real Farmer by Jerry Reynolds.