Are you concerned that the average age of a U.S.A. farmer is now over 58 years old?

Question

Did you also know that less than 1% of the people in the U.S.A. work in the agriculture sector?

Do you also know that most farmers are suffering from serrious health problems, like bad backs, arthritis, serrious skin cancers (sun exposure), other cancers (chemical exposures), loss of hearing, diminished eyesight, missing hands or arms, or other limbs, farmer's lung (same as coal miners, only from constant dust exposure), and a host of other medical problems?

Please concider all of these questions, before formulating your answer. Think about the age, serrious health problems of these farmers, and the fact that many of them will be forced due to health to retired early. Think about the fact that so few feed so many.....and that young people are NOT going into farmer, so there are virtually no younger farmers taking up the reins.

Does this concern you?

Answer 1

yah

Answer 2

yep.

Answer 3

Yeah! I think the new generation gotta taking part in thr agriculture!

Because that's one of the important way for economical growing. Just like malaysia, althought it is still a growing country, but... the economy is stronger and stronger due to its agriculture! This sector could be involved of biotechnology!

Answer 4

yes  things will change in the futcher food will not existed pills will feed the body

Answer 5

this is happening all over the world.



Farmers sons are getting educated and move into business and work in the cities,

This is also the fault of the parents for not making the life attractive enough to appeal for their youths, being to set in their ways.

Here in Mexico We tried to persuade them to also go into eco tourism which is more fun for the younger crowd ,but all the old farmers blocked that.They said their kids would go to the devil with the tourist women .

So  their sons are going to the USA instead pursuing the dollar ,and whole villages are becoming devoid of young men .

Only the old farmers are left behind.

And everywhere >corporations are buying up farmland also driving the farmers out .who cannot compete.

To many farmers are working through middle men,so their profits are marginal,whilst they have all the risk.

the money goes to the middle man who will switch sources if things go wrong leaving the farmer by the way side.

This is the future

But we are not only loosing Farmers

we also loose billions of tons of topsoil each year ,

Arable lands to desertification

and potable water supplies because of deforestation,contamination ,excessive and irresponsible irrigation and now global Warming

However Most of the ails you mention are due to bad farming practices

Like the dust ,(not mulching or not No till farming)

sun exposure(not trees for partial shade ,or agro forestal)

effects of chemical farming.

People must pay the price for having damaged the Environment for so long.

Although just the normal toil of farming is back breaking enough ,and knows no regular hours.

Many Commercial farmers are more concerned with growing for the market then their own quality of life .

I know many big farmers who still go to the super market to buy a cabbage because they can not be bothered to grow their own, since they maybe corn farmers ,

Who`s fault is that?

But it does not have to be this way.

Farmers can form cooperations (also risky since many farming co operations cheat their participants)and handle their own market.

And you are right that the big business by manipulating the prices is crowding out the small farmer ,the public totally ignorant of the farmer will go for the best price and looks.

The new Organic farming is addressing this better by appealing to their market from a health point of view.

To stay in the game the conventional farmer has to adjust a lot

look on the bright side .more and more people are beginning to see the sense in your way of life.Which is more concerned with the quality of life first and the market comes second

Keep on trucking

In many places in the first worlds ,Many new kinds of Urban farmers with NO farming back ground are emerging ,with nurseries or horticulture.

That is what Permaculture is all about  ,

But the time will come when we must pay the price for being so many .

Mankind gets what it deserves

and so will those who choose a better path .

.so it is written

PS

legality is irrelevant,And not all farmers live near the southern border of the USA. to benefit from migrant workers.

But this hardly means that the farmer is lying in the hammock.

In Europe and many other places food is sometimes left to rot because of lack of labor or an impossible market price.

In the Netherlands if you want farm strawberries you have to pick them yourself.

Not a bad thing in itself

Many Grapes have been traditionally picked in France by students on holidays

.

I hope the future lies in this direction http://byderule.multiply.com/journal/ite...

Answer 6

It should concern us all. It won't, as your answers show. People have become so far removed from the land that they no longer understand the amount of work needed to produce food. Particularly the amount of labour needed to produce an excess of food which is what all surpluses are, the excess of labour sold to those who will not, or can not, or are unable to, produce their own food.

Anybody who has real life experience of farming does not doubt how hard the life is and that includes physically. Spend a few weeks lambing or harvesting to get a taste of farming reality.

Mega corporations are putting more stress on farmers, not just by competing, but if they have a contract with them, the large corporations have all the power.

Farming neighbours  lost contracts on the day of crop picking, because, due to extreme weather, the crop was not up to the usual quality and size. They were left with fields of unwanted crops, grown for a world renowned company, the peas where ready to pick and left at the last minute without a buyer.

I don't see the differential between white farmers and immigrant labour. The labour is hard work. Farming is hard work. Immigrant labour is very poorly paid. The farmer is very poor paid. Look at the price of the equipment needed to farm on such a large scale. That is where the money is. Without it, the machinery and equipment they can not compete. So they invest in the machinery and it takes years to repay, in which time the equipment is outdated, they become uncompetitive again and need to purchase the latest machinery.

Place value on land for producing food, place value on food itself and people will return to farming. There are an increasing number of home growers, an increasing number of Permaculturists, an increasing number of allotment holders. Perhaps this is where the future lies?

Answer 7

I think you have a lot of facts wrong.  Most farms are run by illegals and they are producing quite well.  Most farms are huge and farmers have huge equipment or contract to get the work done in record time.  Most of equipment today is air condition, having tracking devices, and sound equipment.

Answer 8

are one of those people who dislike obesity and over weight people

Answer 9

Yes it does concern me, as well as the fact that our bees are dwindling and our soils losing more and more nutrients. These are just some of the reasons why I have started learning about permaculture and home farming. I don't think we can depend on future people to keep feeding us, and I am surprised by the fact that very few people realize the situation, or outright deny it as a few people here have shown. It makes me sad because programs such as Future Farmers of America in high school get little attention or support, and the few kids that do sign up get ridiculed. People really don't understand how much we owe to our farmers, and especially our future farmers.  I hope one day soon to be able to have my own sustainable farm to feed my family and be able to use it also to teach others how to do it.

Have you heard of these people http://www.pathtofreedom.com/  in Pasadena,CA? They are very inspirational to me and I hope to be able to visit them because I only live about an hour away from them. Watch some of thier videos, they are amazing.

Answer 10

I need to know what the exact definition of "farmer" is being used. More and more of our land is being tilled by Agri-business concerns, and the traditional farm is on the way out. (sadly for those who wish to farm).This skews that data, as many of those employees are not considered "farmers". Farmers have never had an easy go, but they are not alone.

Your average mechanic, plumber, electrician, construction worker, has many of the same health issues, although they are not tied to the additional uncertainties of weather, etc.

Does it concern YOU you enough to go into farming?

Answer 11

Nothing really new to me.  I'm a farmer/rancher and all I have to do is look at my "neighbors" and there's hardly any younger people out here.  Well, I'm not that old yet, I'm 39.

With the cost of equipment, land, repairs, labor(to repair the equipment), vets, and . . . .  Then look at the prices of the crops and livestock which untill recently has stayed the same for the past 30 years and then it's only a select few ag markets that has gone up.    But it pry still does not even come close to what the average american gets in his/her yearly income.

Oh, logsdodl you don't know what the smeg you are talking about .

Answer 12

Yes, as well as is why the "nice" corporations are filling the gap.  I think there are plenty of young future farmers out there, but don't know how to procure the land, equipment, and supplies.  I think this information is becoming much harder to come by for a reason.  Land equates to wealth these days, and who wants to tie up all that juicy wealth with food production when you can build "McMansions" or a Sub-division?  Personally, I love the idea of small scale farming, and would welcome the challenge and opportunity.  But, I would want to make a few improvements involving technology.  I just don't have the land, the resources, or the money.  LOL!

Answer 13

I work for a case ih dealer in Ohio, and it scares me very much most of the people that i work with selling parts are old worn out. their children left the farm when the price of grain was down milk was 14 a hundred and land was $11,000/acre in Ohio. it was really hard for a 20 something to start farming when it cost a million plus to start. when their parents retired or died they sold the farm and when and got city jobs. Where are 90% dairy with the biggest farm milking 5,000 head and the smallest are the Amish/Mennonite in the 50-75 head range. the Amish and Mennonite will never quit farming but the "English" concern me.

Answer 14

I am the farmer. I am 54 years old. I do have some of the ailments that you mentioned. I am concerned because being a farmer...that's my life, and the life of many of my friends.

However I also find many young people of my acquaintance are interested in learning about farming, and I hazard to think that many more will become so... as food prices begin to sky rocket people.... will be forced to eat less, simply, because they can't afford food... hunger is a great motivator, ya' know.

Answer 15

agriculture is a career (it IS a career choice, as well as a lifestyle one) with a high potential for physical burnout.  combine the long days, hard labor, tough working conditions around dangerous machinery, and the worry and uncertainty about the many variables outside the farmer's control (crop prices, pests and diseases, climate change, etc.) and it's no wonder that many younger people (relatively speaking, younger than 58!) choose to find another line of work.

as those who have tended the land grow old and frail, and are unable to continue their work, and as their descendants prefer to choose other lines of employment in large cities (witness the population trends in rural iowa, the dakotas, kansas, etc.) the single family farm is becoming an endangered species in america.  the trend here in north carolina is to sell agricultural land to developers when the farmer decides it's time to retire.

certainly crops will continue to be grown on the fertile lands:  the difference will be in who and how they are grown.  large corporate farms growing monoculture crop stands are already becoming the trend.  imported labor, some of it from other countries, will be employed to harvest the crops on a larger scale, with less benefit to local economies than in the past.

for the individual who chooses to continue farming as a career and a lifestyle, the satisfaction of the job will need to outweigh the health concerns and money worries that accompany it.  the transition to farming by corporation will make the solitary family farm (along with its specialized crop,  local harvest, and halcyon lifestyle) a rarity... and yes this is a cause for concern.  loss of diversity often means loss of progress as well as resources.

Answer 16

somewhat, but it's really cool that some people are trying to change that.

if you put agriculture as your major on your application, michigan state will take you no matter what your grades are.