Cool people doing cool things

Get your Farming On

Dust off your overalls (or buy some in the first place), this movement is gaining strength, folks. No, we’re not talking about Occupy Wall Street… this movement is of the organic food variety. Yes, farming is a real, viable job option, and more and more young people are getting into the action, NPR reported.

Astute Dig This Gig readers will recognize one of the young farmers interviewed in the NPR story—Ben Shute, of Hearty Roots Farm. In the book, he shares how he got his start in the field, literally, and what it’s really like to be a farmer these days. It seemed like a bold career move at the time, but now, a couple of years later, it’s clear he was on to something.

At this year’s annual Stone Barns Institute for Food and Agriculture more than 200 students were in attendance. Some were there to sharpen their skills; others were attending to figure out if the farm life was for them. The four year old conference in Hudson Valley, New York, sold out months in advance this year.

In the past, it hasn’t been a youthful pursuit. In 2002, the government’s most recent count of farmers pegged their average age at 55. But a surge in newbie farmers who didn’t grow up on farms seems to be catching on. They’re heading into farming as a j.o.b.—and for the impact they might have.

Wanna-be farmer Brian Bates is plotting to work on a farm after he graduates from Penn State (hopefully he’s enrolled in their Agricultural Sciences track): “I spent the first two years of college with one question in mind—basically, how can I have the greatest impact in my life in the world. And the thing that I kept coming back to, that everyone connected to, was food.”

He—and you, if farming gives you gooose-bumps, the good kind—may be wise to reach out to farmer Shute… they’re hiring.