JRCS Farms - 1/16/2026 21:01

Older farmers have done more to keep young people out of farming more than anything else in the last 20 years. We can hide behind the government all we want but the truth is greed and ego of the farmer is what’s hurting young guys. I’ve seen it endless times, older guy retires, young guy that he knows and says is “a really great kid” offers a price that works as a young guy, older guy rents it to the big neighbor that’s 10 years younger than he is and can pay top dollar and then tells the young guy “you were the runner up, if something changes it’ll be yours” and nothing changes and then the landowner dies and the bigger established farmer buys it up because the family knows him. Also have seen the old guys screwing their friends over on rent price, old widows hearing “your husband and I agreed to this and you know he’d want me to keep farming it as long as I can to help you out” while paying half price instead of suggesting a young guy who would be willing to pay 75% of the market price which would help a young guy get his feet under him and would help the older widow with more money each year. I do not buy the government claims at all, farmers are greedy and egotistical. Not all, but there’s enough that we eat our young and blame anything else. I’ve heard the “I’ve got to rent it to so and so but if anything changes I’ll let you know” line more times than I care to think about.