A Young Generation Sees Greener Pastures In Agriculture

Marya Gelvosa, 29, didn't grow up dreaming of being a farmer — in fact, as of a few years ago, she'd never even lived in the countryside. Now she and her partner Josh Gerritsen raise Highland cows and pastured eggs for a living.America's heartland is graying. The average age of a farmer in the U.S. is 58.3 — and that number has been steadily ticking upward for more than 30 years.

Overall, fewer young people are choosing a life on the land. But in some places around the country, like Maine, that trend is reversing. Small agriculture may be getting big again — and there's new crop of farmers to thank for it.

Fulfilling Work, Noble Work

On a windy hillside just a few miles from Maine's rocky mid-coast, it's 10 degrees; snow is crunching underfoot. Hairy highland cattle munch on flakes of hay and native Katahdin sheep are mustered in a white pool just outside the fence. Not far away, heritage chickens scuttle about a mobile poultry house that looks a bit like a Conestoga wagon.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/2015/01/03/374629580/a-young-generation-sees-greener-pastures-in-agriculture