Seeds For Young Farmers
from Civil Eats:
Seeds For Young Farmers
January 27th, 2012
By Brie Mazurek
When Jesse Kuhn started Marin Roots Farm at age 28, he already had dirt under his fingernails. Hed studied ag in college, managed a student farm, and worked as a landscaper. But when it came to succeeding financially in the farming business, he had a long way to go. I was charging up my credit cards like crazy and bouncing balances back and forth, he says. I almost had to declare bankruptcy during the first year.
Almost 10 years and many lessons later, Marin Roots is a well-established organic specialty produce business. Its a lot of peoples dream to live off the land, but the reality of it is, you have to have a plan for how youre going to pay the bills, says Kuhn.
His journey is not unlike that of many beginners who are eager to try their hand at farming but dont yet have all the necessary skills and resources. In a recent report titled Building a Future with Farmers, the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC) surveyed 1,000 young and beginning farmers across the US and found that access to land, capital, health care, credit, and business training posed huge challenges.
Whats different for young and first-career farmers is that they dont have a lot of equity, says Severine von Tscharner Fleming, a young farmer in New Yorks Hudson Valley who is also co-chair of NYFC and director of The Greenhorns, a film and nonprofit organization that advocates for young farmers. You see a lot of student debt. Farming is a high-capital industryan industry that really needs us, but were walking in without any cash. .................(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://civileats.com/2012/01/27/seeds-for-young-farmers/