New crop of farmers takes to the fields

[nosmokes]

I know that here in Oregon the number of family farmers and ranchers is growing, and many, if not most of the newcomers aren't from the traditional farm family mold.
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original-post-gazette

New crop of farmers takes to the fields

Many of them are college-educated and don't come from farm families background
Sunday, August 26, 2007
By Joann Loviglio, The Associated Press

PERKASIE, Pa. -- Tom Murtha studied English at Penn. Tricia Borneman majored in journalism at Shippensburg University.

Like most college graduates, they finished school with a good idea of where they wanted their career paths to lead. But unlike most, it was a dirt path.

So on a recent summer day, instead of working in an air-conditioned office building 40 miles away in Philadelphia, the pair were tending to kale, collard greens and broccoli in Bucks County.

"It's been so dry, we're really hoping for rain soon," said Ms. Borneman, squinting in the hot afternoon sun under a straw hat, weeding impossibly straight green rows with a long-handled stirrup hoe.

Several yards away, Mr. Murtha tilled new rows for more plantings on a temperamental red tractor. And before dusk, there would be drip tape to unroll for irrigating the soil, and yellow squash to harvest in an adjacent plot.

"We went to college, we were on track to have some sort of professional careers, but it just didn't resonate," Mr. Murtha said. "The thing about farming is it engages you on all levels, which doesn't happen with a lot of jobs."

Mr. Murtha, 34, and Ms. Borneman, 32, are among a new crop of farmers sprouting up around the country who weren't raised on farms, have college degrees, and in some cases have left other careers behind.




















complete article here

[TwilightGardener]

1. What a great story. I have farmer fantasies too, but it's a tough thing

to get into without family-inherited land, know-how, and expensive machinery, in this day and age.

[onethatcares]

2. you got that right,

in order to make any kind of sustinence living you have to hoe a long row, plus pay for everything else. A little 20 x 30 garden won't provide enough to make ends meet let alone pay a land payment.

[progressoid]

3. Wonder how long it will last.

Farming is tough work.