> (1) Can you email me comments on your opinion as to whether adequate
>numbers of young people can be interested in becoming farmers--will there
>be a next generation of family farmers (sustainable or traditional), or
>(2) can you mail me xeroxes of newspaper or magazine articles on young
>people who either are already beginning farmers, or who are committed to
>farming in the future? (Email me what the cost would be for your doing
>this, and I will email you my regular mailing address.)
Marian,
I do not know if this helps or not, but I am a young person who is
interested in farming not so much as a career, but as a part of my life
that I hope to hold on to until I die. I am 23 yars old and grew up on a
small dairy farm in the Shenandoah Valley of western Virginia. I live in
Arlington, VA near DC and work there, but still work some on the farm on
weekends and during vacation. We had a small herd of dairy cows (about 20
at peak) and also raised sheep along the way and some pigs as well. I
remember as a youth despising farm work. I had to walk to bring the cows to
barn especially the one stubborn cow we had that refused to join the others
at the barn for her daily milk.
We ended up selling the dairy cows because we could not afford to keep them
any longer. That was such a sad day that I will never forget it. Also, we
raised sheep for a few years. They were more headaches than anything else.
Now we raise a few pigs each year and we have about 20 head of stock cattle
that we raise strickly on grass and hay. Its a struggle sometimes to live
on a farm especially this year we are in the middle of a bad drought here
and there seems to be no end in site. But we will continue to persist and
have a farm not to become economically secure. If someone asked me why I
enjoy farming I could never answer them, but if you would spend time with
me bailing hay or sloping pigs than that would answer the question. I think
the reason our family does it is because it is something that makes us who
we are. I know that I learned lessons of hard work and determination not
from an olympic athlete, but from my grandfather and father. As long is
there is a breath in my body I will keep that farm and make it a part of me
until.
Hope this helps.
Tad Williams
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Tad Williams
Marketing Director
Progressive Publications Ph: (202)238-0010 Fax: (202)238-0011
http://www.progressivepubs.com
P.O. Box 11335 Washington, DC 20008
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