I spotted the article below in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. They had it titled "The Graying of the American Farmer".
Some comments of mine before you get to the article.....
The USDA just released their detailed census information for 2012. (yes, in typical bureaucratic style, it took over 15 months to compile data and get it published; ridiculous, if you ask me)
Some of the highlights:
- Eighty-seven percent of all U.S. farms are operated by families or individuals.
- Farms with Internet access rose from 56.5 percent in 2007 to 69.6 percent in 2012.
- 57,299 farms produced on-farm renewable energy, more than double the 23,451 in 2007.
- 474,028 farms covering 173.1 million acres were farmed with conservation tillage or no-till practices.
- Corn and soybean acres topped 50 percent of all harvested acres for the first time.
- The largest category of operations was beef cattle with 619,172 or 29 percent of all farms and ranches in 2012 specializing in cattle.
- Principal operators were on average 58.3 years old and were predominantly male; second operators were slightly younger and most likely to be female; and third operators were younger still.
- Young, beginning principal operators who reported their primary occupation as farming increased 11.3 percent from 36,396 to 40,499 between 2007 and 2012.
Focus on those last 2.
Even with that increasing number of "youngsters" joining the farming ranks, the average age of our American farms' "principal operator" continues to increase:
1992 53.3 years
1997 54.3 years
2002 55.3 years
2007 57.1 years
2012 58.3 years
Which is probably what led to the "Graying" title for the article. Read it below and let me know what you think.
I see it as a disturbing trend.... who's going to feed the world when these guys start retiring?
Out for now....
Matt
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WASHINGTON • The U.S. Department of Agriculture put its spin on new Census numbers recently, pointing out that 22 percent of all farmers in 2012 had been in the business less than 10 years.
But what the farm agency did not say is that there are still far more farmers over age 65 than under 35 in the U.S. The Census Bureau earlier this year released state-by-state farm statistics, and Missouri and Illinois starkly illustrate the aging demographics.
In Missouri, the number of farmers over age 65 rose from 32,087 in 2007 to 33,654 in 2012, while those under 35 actually fell from 6,326 to 6,230, according to the Census Bureau.
In Illinois, those over 65 rose from 21,237 to 23,702 while those under 35 increased from 4,696 to 5,067.
This is not altogether a bad trend, according to new Illinois Farm Bureau President Richard Geubert. He farms with a son in Randolph County, about 50 miles from St. Louis and was in Washington recently to meet with Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill.
Geubert, who is 62, says recent technological breakthroughs that appeal to young farmers — like tractors that self-steer and GPS technology that allows down-to-the-inch precision applications of seeds and fertilizers — keeps older farmers like him in the business longer.
There is far less manual labor involved than when he started, Geubert points out. He says he plans to farm "as long as the Good Lord gives me that ability to get up and get vertical every morning."
Rep. Bill Enyart, D-Ill., said that "incredible capital costs of getting into farming" concern him. Enyart's agriculture-intensive congressional district straddles the Mississippi River east of St. Louis.
Enyart said that because "our population today is healthier," farmers are able to work longer. He recalled seeing his grandfather, in his 60s, on a tractor in the heat of summer, before air-conditioned tractor cabs.
"You were out there in the wind and the sun and it was much more difficult to do," he said, "but we are seeing a generational shift here and I think we obviously have to bring young people in."
More information on the U.S. Ag Census: