Q.
How does the age of farmers differ from that of other members of the
labor force?
A. The average
age of farmers in 1997 was 54.3 years. The proportion
of farmers age 55 and over rose from 37 percent in 1954
to 61 percent in 1997. Farmers are older, on average, than
others in the civilian labor force for several reasons.
As self-employed workers, farmers can continue to farm—often
at a reduced scale—after reaching the age at which
wage and salary earners have retired. The average life span
in the United States has increased, meaning self-employed
elderly farmers can farm to an advanced age. The mechanization
of agriculture also has helped older farmers continue to
farm by substituting machinery for some physical labor.
While U.S. agriculture has long been characterized by a larger share
of older operators, the future of farming in America depends on continued
entry by new farm operators. However, the share of farmers younger
than 35 declined from 15 percent in 1954 to 8 percent in 1997.
Background
The agricultural census reveals that the average age of U.S. farmers
has slowly risen, with fewer younger people than in the past. The
number of entrants into farming has fallen over time. The traditional
pool of new entrants into farming—white males in their twenties
growing up on family farms—is shrinking. This is attributable
both to the decline in farm numbers and to the fact that farm families
have fewer children than in the past.
Some of the observed trends in aging of the farm population, however,
may be overstated because the census of agriculture counts only
one operator per farm, usually the eldest member of a farming family.
Excluding adult children who operate the family farm thus biases
the calculation of average age upward and understates the number
of people in farming. This is confirmed by labor force participation
data from the Department of Labor that show more young farmers than
does the census. These data provide a less dire picture of the rising
age of farmers; nevertheless, they do show a steady decline in the
number of young farmers during the 1990s.
The typical path to farming is entry through the family farm business.
Less frequent is the "agricultural ladder," in which a hired farm
worker becomes a tenant and ultimately owner-operator.
A person's decision to enter farming is conditioned by the relative
attractiveness of farm versus nonfarm earning opportunities and
by the ease of entry into farming as a business. When the nonfarm
economy is robust, as it has been for the past decade, young people
may opt for the higher, more stable incomes available off the farm.
On the other hand, boom times in the nonfarm economy may actually
encourage entry into farming. Like their nonfarm counterparts, the
majority of U.S. farm households have two earners and off-farm income
can supplement and buffer swings in income from the farm operation.
When off-farm earning opportunities are promising, a household may
decide it can better absorb the risks of having one earner engaged
in farming.
While access to capital is important, a new farmer must also know
how to farm and how to manage a farm business in the current regulatory
environment. Those who grew up in the farm business can obtain this
specialized knowledge from their family experience as well as from
outside education. Novice farmers must acquire this expertise through
hired work on farms or education. Federal or State extension programs
may target technical assistance to beginning farmers.
What's Ahead?
The net result of entry and exit into the farm sector over decades
has been fewer farmers. Increases in labor productivity, however,
have been rapid enough to maintain farm output even in the face
of fairly strong declines in the number of farmers. As a result,
changes in the age composition of the farm population or in its
overall size have not and will not likely impair the Nation's food
security, especially in the near future. These shifts, however,
may raise concerns about the structure of farming and the concentration
of agricultural production.
References
Structural and Financial Characteristics
of U.S. Farms: 2001 Family Farm Report, May 2001 ERS report.
FSA Credit
Programs Target Minority Farmers, Agricultural Outlook,
November 1999.
What Makes
a Small Farm Successful?, Agricultural Outlook, November
1999.
Farm Loans,
an FSA fact sheet published in August 1999.
The Taxpayer Relief
Act of 1997 Provides Significant Tax Relief to Rural America,
Rural Conditions and Trends, volume 9, number 1; July 1998.
Loans
for Socially Disadvantaged Persons, an FSA fact sheet published
in May 1997.
Characteristics and Risk Management
Needs of Limited Resource Farmers,
April 1997 ERS report.
Is More Credit the
Best Way to Assist Beginning Low-Equity Farmers? an ERS report
in the Issues in Agricultural and Rural Finance series, August
1996.
Who Are Retired Farm
Operators, May 1996 ERS report.
"Young
Commercial Farmers: Their Financial Structure and Credit Sources,"
a ERS Report in the Agricultural Income and Finance Series,
April 1995.
The
New Generation of American Farmers: Farm Entry and Exit Prospects
for the 1990s. October 1994 ERS report.
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