Edit: Commenters on Reddit have pointed out that it is not just Baby Boomer farmers that fail at farming, but that all age groups have failures. That is completely true! I still believe that greater good can be made if Baby Boomers supported younger farmers with their resources.
My job is extremely frustrating. I am working on a farm in Northern Michigan where we grow vegetables for sale to four Farmer’s Markets, several restaurants and to a small Community Supported Agriculture membership. Each day we have to evaluate anew the next tasks that are behind schedule, because there is no schedule. There is no crop plan, so we plant in any space that is available, even if it violates the basic tenets of crop rotation. We have no systems in place for harvesting and delivering produce, so we deliver 3–4 days a week to the town that is 30 minutes away. The owners recently bought sheep for grazing, but purchased unsuitable temporary fencing so the plan of rotational grazing has dissolved into permanent grazing. These experiences and the rest that we deal with on a daily basis lead to stress, frustration and resentment for everyone working here.
The farm owners are one semi-retired massage therapist and one fully retired school teacher. This is now normal to meet retired people farming, and the trend is growing. The Baby Boomers that I have met who have started farms are in general idealistic and wish to help the world by changing the food system. They have a passion and zeal that is tremendous; otherwise they wouldn’t attempt to start a farm at their age. To have a real impact on our food system though, Baby Boomers must stop starting farms. Here’s why:
Baby Boomers are relatively inexperienced with farming. They may have gardened before and run small community farm stands. Gardening is different than farming. There are scaling issues that arise when growing to a farm size. There are new systems that need to be implemented. For example: Washing 6 heads of lettuce for your neighbors is easy in your kitchen sink. What do you do when you now have 3 pounds of cut lettuce and 12 heads of lettuce to wash for one order, plus all of the rest of the vegetables that are grown. (Most farmers know that this example is actually a very small order.) The answers exist, but many Baby Boomer farmers have not received training or worked on other farms before they start farming. They may have taken some classes or read some books, but that is a poor substitute for working on an established farm for even a year. Thus, the problems with easy answers are not easily solved.
There is also a paradox that exists for most Baby Boomer farmers. Because they don’t have to rely on their farm for their livelihood, there is a lack of financial incentive to implement efficient farming systems. If you don’t need to make money from your farm, you will be less likely to make sure that your farm performs well (i.e. produces and sells a lot of food).
As a result of this lack of experience and lack of farm systems, the farms total vegetable output is dramatically less than it could be. So much time is spent trying to solve problems that arise from inexperience that the total food produced, the measure of how much good an idealistic farm is doing in the world, is stunted. Thus, the idealistic Baby Boomer farmer is not changing the world as they hoped they would.
Baby Boomer farmers also create many less obvious negative effects. They compete with farmers who depend on growing food for their livelihood. They often present poor images of what sustainable farming could be, because they struggle so much with the basics. They lock up valuable farm land that a farmer with more knowledge but less capital cannot afford. They then, ironically, hire these same farmers to work for them, creating an upside down knowledge-power structure. This coupled with the tendency for some (but not all) Baby Boomers to not take advice or to be too busy and stressed to implement advice creates an even more stressful situation. Retired farmers are also applying for the same grant money that professional farmers are, even though they have the capital to purchase those items without grants.
Here is another point that most people, not just Baby Boomers fail to recognize: farming is some of the hardest work in the world. The beautiful pictures online, the colorful booths at the Farmer’s market and the step-by-step instructions you may read in a beginner’s growing guide do not tell the full story, or even 1/10th of the story. Farming is hard, physical labor. If you do want to farm, expect to work more than you ever did in your full-time career, except this job is outdoors in sun, rain, snow, drought, deluges, etc. This job is hard.
Instead of Baby Boomers starting a farm, please contemplate this radical idea. Estimate how much money you would invest in your new farm in the first five years of its existence (which is longer than most Baby Boomers farm anyway), and then gift this to a young farmer that you know and trust. Or connect with a farm advocacy group and have them administer the gift. You will create exponentially more good in the world by supporting a young farmer than you would ever deliver with your own farm. Young farmers are the largest growing farming demographic, and they are the most financially insecure. Young farmers have more energy and more time in their lifetime to devote to farming for the good than you have. Save yourself a lot of stress, Baby Boomer. Don’t start a farm.