Liana Melville she raises livestock for meat shares on four legs farm in Hudson Valley New York but she's actually relatively new to farming. Up until two years ago Liana was on the path to becoming an engineer but after college she realized that she didn't want a desk job instead she wanted to become a farmer. However that decision didn't come lightly, "I do not come from a farming background it took me a while to have the courage to be a farmer." It took courage because there are a number of hurdles preventing young people like Leanna from taking the leap to become a farmer.
Today only 6% of farmers in the US are under the age of 35 which for the agricultural industry is a problem. We are in a farm in crisis now where our farming population is aging out retiring and we need young people to take on this role growing our nation's food, but they're facing incredible challenges in doing that including access to land capital and credit student loan debt.
Many young farmers today are discovering agriculture in college, they're not growing up in farm families and this debt that they've accumulated from college is preventing them from getting started. Liyana was fortunate enough to qualify for a unique loan forgiveness program in New York which allowed her to pay off her debt and kick-start her business in that the loan forgiveness program financing the farm would have been more challenging. "I'm very thankful to be a part of it and it definitely cushioned my first couple of years farming", but the loan forgiveness program hasn't solved all of her problems she still has to work another job to make ends meet.
"Most the time we work 12-hour days and I can't really leave the farm for more than a few hours. I don't really take days off I always have to do chores and then I go to my job at the National Young Farmers coalition which is also a key piece of figuring out how to make this work financially."
Young farmers have to be extremely creative to make it in agriculture today whether that's working several jobs or finding land through a land trust or a current landowner who's willing to let them use part of their land. The National young fellow coalition hopes to help young farmers. In that course in the next 25 years two-thirds of farmer owned land in the US will transition ownership if young farmers aren't successful in taking over this land it's you know possible we'll start importing our food from overseas.
This is a national security issue. We need farmers in the United States growing food for our country. Essentially this means that the US could become more and more dependent on other countries for food. What the NY FC are fighting for is to give young people like Leanna the financial support to continue and sustain the farming tradition in the US.
Until legislation to support young farmers is realized folks have to do the best with what have four Liana this means applying for grants and renting rather than owning land for her animals. "So I move the sheep every like three days to a new spot and as you can see they've eaten a lot of the grass over there. One day Liana hopes to eventually own her own land and expand her meat share business I love getting to provide my community with really healthy proteins.
"It feels really special that it's like people I know that are eating the meat hopefully that likes make them healthier and improves their quality of life. My life and my world revolves around being at the farm taking care of my animals. I do get to work in a beautiful place and I do get to see spectacular sunsets and I get to see baby animals playing. It's definitely a privilege to be able to hear and see it all. I try really hard not to take it for granted. I'm drinking it all in and hear more about the farming crisis and what NY FC are doing."
American Farmer - Proud Dad Shirt - RavensDesignShop.com