New York Times: "A Young Generation of Farmers Emerges"

There was an interesting and heart-warming (for me, at least) article earlier this week in The New York Times about young farmers in Oregon.

The headline, “In New Food Culture, a Young Generation of Farmers Emerges,” sums up the piece nicely, but two issues caught my eye.

First, as the real food movement takes hold and we better understand the damages caused by our modern food supply, those getting into farming are not what would be considered typical farmers:

“Many shun industrial, mechanized farming and list punk rock, Karl Marx and the food journalist Michael Pollan as their influences. The Joneses say they and their peers are succeeding because of Oregon’s farmer-foodie culture, which demands grass-fed and pasture-raised meats.”

Second, the young farmers—like those of us rediscovering real food—have had to search for and find information on their own:

"But finding mentors has been difficult. There is a knowledge gap that has been referred to as ‘the lost generation’ — people their parents’ age may farm but do not know how to grow food. The grandparent generation is no longer around to teach them.”

I love the "lost generation" analogy. (It holds true in the supermarket as well, evidenced by the contents of many shopping carts.) Also, parents knowing how to farm but not knowing how to grow food is such a poignant indictment of the industrial food system.

Click here to read the article.