New Farmers

In today's NYT, Marc Bittman enthuses over the possibility of getting a new generation of farmers on the land.  Most of the present farming population is 60 or older and the hurdles that must be jumped by a fledgling grower are formidable, the cost of land being the greatest.  As a part time micro farmer, I can testify that even if you have the land, the cost of growing and marketing a crop is also capital intensive.  Other small time growers I know, including my little brother are heavily invested in machinery to make a part time farm doable.   To get to a scale which would support a family in a suburban setting would require several hundred thousand dollars.  This to make a living which could be duplicated by any number of middle class jobs without the investment.   Absent a thorough rethinking of the way we feed the people of this country, the march of corporate farming will continue.   Small, boutique growers and hobbyists like myself and other gardening maniacs will keep farmer's markets stocked with organic vegetables, but I think these will be exceptions to the industrialization of food production in this country.