Farming is one of America\u2019s few industries dominated by family operations- which leads to generational opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI purchased our farm from my dad,\u201d said Jeremy Ashby, owner of Bluebird Ridge Farms with his wife Jenna. \u201cHer parents still have a farm that we can use for crops.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over 90% of farms are owned by families. Across the United States, Pennsylvania has the highest ratio of farmers under the age of 35. The average age for a farmer in the state though is in their mid-50s though, and the next generation isn\u2019t always committed to keeping an operation going though.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just had a big dairy close near us. The owner reached retirement age, but there was no one to take it over for him,\u201d Ashby said. \u201cNo one wanted to.\u201d<\/p>\n
There are plenty of families with nieces and nephews and grandchildren eager to keep their farming tradition alive.<\/p>\n
Even with generational opportunities though, it\u2019s increasingly difficult to clear a profit in farming. Smaller operations can struggle to break even. Some are choosing alternative market strategies (like the Bluebird Ridge Farm\u2019s food truck), instead of competing in national commercial supply chains. But not all families are equipped for non traditional approaches to the business.<\/p>\n
If they try to scale up to break even\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s getting very difficult to be a bigger farm in some aspects, because its controlled by bigger companies,\u201d Ashby said, \u201cand your at the mercy of them for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n
With this as the status quo for established farms\u2026 jumping in fresh to the industry comes with unique challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very hard if you don\u2019t have help from a generation of, \u2018Hey, maybe my dad\u2019s going to give me a good deal on his old farm\u2019,\u201d Ashby said. \u201cOr he\u2019s giving me so much equipment to get started.\u201d<\/p>\n
Newcomers can still get their foot in the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started because I wasn\u2019t great at sports, and I love farming, and I love gardening, and I wanted to see if I can do something with this,\u201d said Armen Caravantes. Now in his 20s, the Pennsylvanian started farming when he was fourteen.<\/p>\n
Caravantes sells pumpkins- the heirloom squash are used for porch d\u00e9cor or sold to top restaurant in Philadelphia. He\u2019s found a plethora of other niche farming gigs over the years- embracing alternative or specialty markets.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost of the farmers I see today that are thriving have found a way to build a brand, and finding a way to sell a story through their farming,\u201d Caravantes said.<\/p>\n
He attributes his progress to personal ambition and relentlessness- and the connections he made with mentors on his journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started renting land from others, volunteering on their farms, learning about farming,\u201d Caravantes said. \u201cI found an amazing mentor- came up to here, at the \u2018So You Want to be a Farmer\u2019 booth, and asked her if I could learn more about her farm and have gained a lot from that experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around 27% of Pennsylvania farm producers have 10 or less years of experience.<\/p>\n
The \u2018So You Want to be a Farmer\u2019 exhibit as the Pennsylvania Farm Show gives practical tools to anyone looking to jump into the agriculture industry. The exhibit fully embraces networking as pivotal to opportunity. Someone who wants to become a farmer often starts with shadowing and grunt work. The exhibit also has connections for business education.<\/p>\n
As family\u2019s wrestle with the hardships of agriculture business, many are eager to welcome fresh faces into the industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cFarmers are very generous with their time and with their information,\u201d Caravantes said. \u201cThey will share with you unlike any other industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pennsylvania Farm Link<\/a> meets the needs of strained families and new interest- listing apprenticeship but also farm transition and sales requests. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture has multiple tax benefits<\/a> for established farms that rent or sell land or equipment to new farmers.<\/p>\n Older farmers with no immediate family to take over operations can possibly find a protege. Or, can simply rest satisfied that they are investing in the next generation.<\/p>\n \u201cI have three young men that I\u2019m mentoring,\u201d said Robert Boyce, owner of Lil\u2019 Ponderosa Farms- a beef operation. \u201cIt\u2019s really nice to be able to give them not only a little economical, you know, help with the dollar- but also be able to share the knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Farming is one of America\u2019s few industries dominated by family operations- which leads to generational opportunities. \u201cI purchased…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2288,37,28,5929,30,29],"class_list":["post-94056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-bureau","tag-harrisburg","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-capitol","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}