User:Lisbeth498/First Generation Farmers in America

First Generation Farmers are young people who did not grow up or do not have family in farming but want to pursue farming as a carrier. The new wave of young farmers are young, environmentally aware, and operating on a smaller scale. The average age of farmers in the US is over 50 and this posses the question of who will take over food production in the U. S. in the next twenty years?

• demographics
• why become farmers?

Land

• Urban Agriculture
  • Urban farming in Detroit is rapidly expanding particularly for First Generation Farmers. There are many vacant lots in the city that young people are taking advantage of.
    • Guerrilla Gardening- Some Urban farmers do not have rights to the land that they farm.
    • Buying Land-The cost of vacant or delinquent lots is often very low to encourage sale. These plots greatly diminish the property value of the neighborhood. First generation farmers can use this as an opportunity to own land and be in immediate proximity with the market, cutting out many expenses along the way. However space will always be limited in a city so expansion is determined by availability.
• Renting
• Borrowing
• Buying
  • First time farmers are warned about buying land. The debt from land purchasing can be overwhelming for someone trying to start a business, where the product requires upfront capital investment and variable return after longer time.
• partner with older farmers
• grants
• shared lots, land csa

Money

• inherit it
• have another job
• marry in to it

Knowledge

• Internships
  • WWOOF, or Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, is an international organization linking travelers and farmers. New farmers use this as a resource to learn technical and marketing skills.
• study ag in school- list of ag colleges
• master gardener
• how does buisness work

External Links

The Greenhorns