Agriculture Struggles with Lack of Young Farmers

Posted on July 1, 2010 by in Beginning Farmers, First Generation Farmers, Policy, Publications, Small Farms, Statistics and Trends, Young Farmers // 0 Comments

BY COURTENAY EDELHART, Californian staff writer
cedelhart@bakersfield.com | Saturday, Jun 12 2010 12:00 PM

Don Davis’ grandfather founded his family’s northern Kern County farm in the 1930s, but the family legacy will end when he retires.

His children aren’t interested in farming. They came of age in the 1980s, when cotton prices were plummeting, and left home to pursue careers in computers and medicine.

Davis, 55, has since switched from cotton to more profitable almonds, but he knows his acreage likely won’t remain in the family after he dies.

“My kids will probably sell out to a corporate farm, eventually,” he said. “If small, family farms are going to exist in the United States, the public is going to have to subsidize their cost of doing business, and I’m not sure there’s the political will to do that.”

(permission for reprint or excerpt provided by the author)