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Strathcona, mn | As a young operator (34yr) I look forward to the future. I can count less than 40 guys in my county operating under the age if 40. If you double that to 80 that still isn't many to operate 480000 tillable acres. In talking to the baby boomer generation it doesn't sound like the majority of them will farm past 65, much less 70. Yes, there will be the exception to the rule but most won't and those that do will have to hire younger folk to keep up with the technology as they get older, fact of life. The problem I see is labor.... Young people don't want to "work" on a farm. I don't know how I'm going to gain enough efficiency to farm a tremendous amount more acres than find more help. I can't find help even with the bubble of baby boomers out there much less anyone under the age of 40, and I chose not to hire under 25 because of repeated bad experiences. The av. Age is 58 and that includes a huge amount if op that are 55-65 years old. There are the few 70+ and the few <40 but the vast majority here are baby boomers. Unless the dot allows me to haul over 80000lbs I still need help moving grain. A lot of us young guys that are becoming established are running sizable equipment and farming 2-3x what are forefathers farmed. At what point will equioment not be able to get larger and more efficient. At that point we still need labor.... | |
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bright future for young farmers
