“There are a lot of programs through USDA for young farmers and ranchers, but any of us know when you?re dealing with federal programs, there?s enough red tape to make the red tape blush,” Matt Rush, director of the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau said.
Matt Rush, director of the New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau
Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan sees an epidemic sweeping across America’s farmland. It has little to do with the usual challenges, such as drought, rising fuel and feed prices, and crop-eating pests.
The country’s farmers and ranchers are getting older, and there are fewer people standing in line to take their place.
New Mexico has the highest average age of farmers and ranchers of any state at nearly 60, and neighboring Arizona and Texas aren’t far behind. Nationally, agricultural census figures show that the fastest-growing group of farmers and ranchers is the segment over 65.
The Agriculture Department is beginning work on its 2012 census, and Merrigan is afraid the average age will be even higher when the statistics are compiled.
“If we do not repopulate our working lands, I don’t know where to begin to talk about the woes,” she said in a recent interview. “There is a challenge here, a challenge that has a corresponding opportunity.”
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