By Jessica Wagner

Land prices are climbing, and farm income is falling.

Farmers are in a position that may continue to become more and more uncomfortable, especially for the younger generation. Since around 2012, farm real estate values and net cash farm incomes have been traveling inversely. The price of farmland per acre more than doubled from 2000 to 2015, according to a report published by the USDA in February 2018. 

If this trend continues, the agriculture industry could be haunted by young people who want to farm but don’t have the financial means to do so. Will the inability to purchase farm ground cultivate an inability to farm?

One young farmer’s story
Bryant See, 24, is a Purdue University graduate with a degree in agricultural business and a concentration in commodity marketing. See went to Purdue with intentions of getting his bachelor’s degree and then returning to the family farm. 

Along with his father and brother, he farms cattle and grain in Miami County, Ind. Though the See family currently farms around 3,000 acres, See has been looking to add to the farm on his own. Working through the same bank that his father operates with, See was turned down when applying for a Farm Service Agency loan.

“It’s a slap in the face,” he says. “Am I stressing out the farm too much by being here?”

See is one of so many in this position. Can farm families afford to bring the next generation back into the farm operation? 

As a young farmer with little to no equity, it’s often difficult to obtain the funds necessary to acquire land to add to the farm. Without adding income to the farm, young farmers are left feeling like a burden to the family. 

This brings a new question to the table, even if a family is yet to admit it. What can help these young farmers?

“Transparency is very important,” says Michael Langemeier, Purdue professor of agricultural economics. Plans for the farm should involve everybody, he says. When beginning to consider if the family can afford to bring kids back to the farm, families must calculate gross income per full-time worker and the average profitability and family withdrawal.

Face economic reality
“If gross income isn’t near $500,000 per worker, then it becomes very difficult to even think about coming back,” Langemeier says.

If the family decides that it’s within reason to bring a member back to the operation, they must decide how to treat this new employee. “When a family member is coming back to the farm, you may want to consider paying them a wage for a few years rather than making them a partner,” Langemeier says. “Every farm is different on how they want to do this.”

When the balance of employee and family member comes into question, the lines often get blurred. Langemeier says the older generation needs to recognize that these young farmers may not be able live on the same income as they can. While it’s typical for an established farmer to have basic needs such as a home, vehicle and operable equipment paid for, young farmers returning home need more economic means to get off the ground.

“They can go do what they want to do, but even with them backing us, it’s still almost impossible [for us],” one aspiring young farmer says.

Land factor
Whether young farmers are attempting to rejoin the family farm or set out on their own endeavor, there is still struggle in dealing with the price of land. It’s not uncommon for a specific family to own most land in an area. This makes it even more difficult for young people to find available land.

Bryan and Amanda Azbell, a young married couple in Whitley County, Ind., recently purchased their first piece of farmland. The couple both come from farming backgrounds and want to continue to farm with their growing family.

They acquired 17 acres, most of which is currently cash-rented as cropland. With no large farm equipment and just one piece of land, the couple currently don’t have the capital assets needed to make row crop farming a feasible source of income. 

Just as little to no profit could come of buying large-scale farm equipment to maintain 17 acres, it’s equally problematic to continue accruing land with no equipment to operate. For now, the couple are planning to cash-rent the ground until they can turn the piece to pasture for cattle, still with the hope of eventually becoming full-time farmers.

Plan and communicate
The Azbells have land, and they have a plan — and in the end, that is what agriculture needs. They are communicating with each other and attempting to make their farm dreams a reality. Communication within the family, tenacity and passion are what it takes to break out of the unaffordability of the new farming world, experts say. 

Within such a broad industry, there is no one-size-fits-all answer for how to generate equity and how to start and continue to farm, ag economists agree. But there are several lessons that everyone in the field could stand to hear. 

If land prices continue to drive up over time, young farmers aren’t going to be around to take over from previous generations. Communication is key to keeping the next generation of farmers interested in the farm, industry experts say.

Wagner is a senior in ag communication at Purdue University. She writes from West Lafayette, Ind. Below is her first-person account of her own family’s challenges to keep farming through multiple generations.

3 generations struggle to maintain farming connection

Pictured above are three generations of farmers with three different stories. I know — they are all part of my family. Their farming efforts have spanned White and Pulaski counties in Indiana. 

The men sit on my grandfather James’ tractor that was sold at his retirement. Darrin, who is James’ son and my father, and his siblings recently relocated the restored tractor to take this photo in front of James’ father, Fredrick’s, barn. 

When he moved away from his father’s White County farm, Darrin got a job in town before setting out on his own in rural Pulaski County. With a farming background and persisting desire, he went on as a maverick of first-generation farmers. While raising my brother, Andrew, Darrin spent 20 years as a pork producer and searching for available land. 

Now, Andrew is faced with a comparable situation and weighty decision. The farm he has depended on and loved through his life may or may not be the best permanent fit for him. While he works in town and makes decisions for his own future, his position within the farm remains unknown. 

This situation is affecting other young Indiana farmers, too.

— Jessica Wagner