farmers wanted

[blackpowder]

4G. I sincerely hope your experience will be better than mine has been.
And, I bet it will be. Better times, methods, equipment, attitudes, mentors, partners.

IF there is enough to support everyone.
IF you can access old equity for leverage.
So many ifs. Between the l and the e in life.
Not complaining one damn bit. This post reminded me of every***thing I did wrong.
Worried me a bit when at first you said you 35 and no land. Saw my own repeating.
Good Luck.


Just erased a bunch more that was too identifying.
About naiveté, ignorance, innocence, parents, land, blah blah blah.

[4GFarms]

BP, as they say hindsight is 20/20. Its easy to see what should have been done after the fact. We seem to be doing ok. There have been tough years but some good ones as well. I dont know your situation but it seems you have some good experience in this industry. I just try to keep a level head and make some solid business decisions. that can be hard at times depending on the situation. Thanks for the comments and Best of luck to you in the future.

[mbdog]

Thx for comments. I'll categorise myself as one of the 50 something active grain producers that see's the need and opportunities for new producers/production. Don't have any intentions to pack it in just yet...just maybe have the means to help bridge startup risks. As I see and read the varied and increasing advertisers selling/promoting agriculture in all of its forms, be it livestock, veggies, value-add, fruits, hay/forage, service provision, etc...what's missing is the important message of the producers willing and able to help out.

[grassfarmer]

Don't know what it's like on a purely grain operation mbdog but something that's going to be important for me and I'm sure others once they hit the 50s is having "younger legs" helping out on what is still a fairly physical job when you're working with livestock. I see that as one of the big advantages of starting some type of succession at 50 where you are bringing in people 20-30 years younger than you - it might provide the means to let you continue to farm actively for another 20 years if you want to.

[farmaholic]

Apprenticeship farming?

[farmaholic]

What are the Parasites doing to ensure they have a new young host to feed off of for his lifetime?

Funny it should fall on the shoulders of those who fought the parasites all their lives.

[Rareearth]

Holy crap farma, you nailed it perfectly, "apprentice"
But...
What everyone that has something to transition with, and struggles with is, " what qualifications do you need for journeyman?"

[farmaholic]

Welfare farming?

[farmaholic]

Subsidized farming.....

[Blaithin]

Absolutely, especially if they make 6 figures. That is the secret, marry someone with means.

This is what I'm holding out for LOL

[Blaithin]

This is such an amazing thing to think of. Both the pros and cons, the potential and the "No way in hell am I doing that"s.

Because I'm young and trying to start a farm on my own (Really not holding out for anything from the family farm), to me any sort of help is sooo appreciated. I'm frequently found browsing this site - http://youngagrarians.org/ - for it's useful events, apprenticeships and partnerships. There are times, I will admit, that I'm torn between "What can they teach me?" and "Don't be a ****wit, they can teach you tonnes!"

Apparently I'm not as grown up as I pretend some days Hah!

But I particularly like the train of thought on here that you can't just blame the old fella's. And you can't. Sure I'd be farther ahead in my farming lifestyle if my Grandpa wasn't a crusty old miser most of the time. He's one of those guys that is going to cling to his land until he's nothing but a song on the wind and not use it to help anyone. All while he grumps that the younger generation just isn't in touch with farming anymore.

But then I'd also be farther ahead if a million other things were different too so no blame on Grandpa. He can't help himself.

It's not all the old guys though. Think I catch breaks with the middle ager's? Naw. Then I'm too young to have much responsibility or they're too busy or something like that. There's usually a reason with most people. But it's not just opportunity for land or apprenticeship or loans or sponsors... it's opportunity for knowledge that I want! What excuse can someone really have to not help people learn about what they want to learn about? (This is an irksome point to me)

This week I'm doing my first volunteer presentation through Ag for Life at a high school in Calgary. 120 students will be subject to my partial knowledge of grains and grading (there were already beef presenters LOL) I'm also involved with the CAP program and have numerous classes of Grade 4's in Calgary who I will visit and give 1 hour presentations to about my choice of subject. I'm beyond excited and can't wait for some of the ridiculous questions I'm sure will come. Do I expect any of the kids will want to grow up to be farmers? Probably not. But it will help them understand our industry, it's careers and their food better. Aren't we always saying people are too distant from their food these days?

Maybe one day I'll slip and fall on a horseshoe and end up apprenticing for an older couple on a quarter section with a herd of grass fed beef with the end goal being to take it over when they retire (A girl can have dreams right?! Haha) But why should people wait for scatterings of golden nuggets to fight over. I think any farmer, be they 20, 30, 50, 80, should try and help teach wherever and whenever they can. Whether it's the neighbour kid from down the road coming over on weekends to help muck out the barn and have a chit chat (I did this when I was young) or going out and finding programs like CAP and Ag for Life to volunteer for. A person can be as involved as they want in anything and in whatever way that they want. There's no excuse in today's age to blame other people or say that other's could do more.

Afterall, as Michael Jackson once said:

If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I'd like to think that I'll be the exception to the rule. I'm 40, still feels like I'm at the beginning of my farming career, and think I'm about 18. Have two boys half way to being adults. I have a plan B ( multiples) that can support us off the farm if either or both of them want to farm. I encourage them to get educations, start businesses pursue other opportunities, but if this is the business and lifestyle they choose, I want to be able to provide them with a viable business, without saddling them with paying for it all over again, like all previous generations had to do. And I want to be able to do it while they are still young enough and passionate enough to make something of it. Not be reliant on farm income or selling land to subsidise our lifestyle.

I have a neighbor in his mid 80's who keeps talking about retiring so his sons in their late 50's (maybe 60's now)can take over. Another neighbor in his 90's retired at the same time as his son.

It looks to me like holding on too long is a good way to exclude an entire generation, and basically guarantee the demise of your family farm.