In response to Leslie Hatfield’s article, Starting Farming on the Cheap: An Interview with Two Young Farmers.
After spending an evening discussing the seemingly insurmountable challenges faced by my farmer friends, this article is a welcome ray of light. I cannot imagine the weight of the debt burden that so many young (and not so young) farmers carry, feel they must carry, just to get into the business of farming. Land prices are far out of reach for most, and lending practices work against them by requiring a majority of the value of the property to be held in the residential structures, rather than the land.
Most farmers I know farm full-time in addition to their “day” jobs. Can we expect them to continue like this? Just to pay their mortgage?
One thing I will say, is that local food is moving more and more to the center of people’s minds. For example, I know of four weddings this summer, including my own, where the food and in some cases the flowers will be grown by local farmers.
Most will be dealing directly with our local Grower’s Cooperative, which boasts around 30 farmer-owners and offers everything from veggies to poultry and meat. In addition, this year they are launching a new take on the CSA: create your CSA box online. Customers will be able to log on to their website and choose the contents of their CSA share for that week. Brilliant.
