By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent
 
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan’s economy may be struggling, but the state’s young farmers aren’t giving up; and their sentiments closely parallel results of a recent national survey of the same farm sector.
According to an informal survey of young farmers, ages 18 to 35, recently completed by Michigan Farm Bureau (MFB), the state’s largest farm organization reports that 91 percent of the respondents see themselves as life-long farmers, and 90 percent would like their children to follow in their footsteps.

“Young farmers see potential in Michigan’s agriculture industry, which has been growing at a rate five times faster than the growth rate of the general economy,” said Lori Chamberlain, manager of the MFB Young Farmer Department. “They’re very aware of the role they can play in Michigan’s economic turnaround, and they’re eager to help move Michigan forward.

“We keep hearing reports about young people leaving the state of Michigan for jobs elsewhere, yet Michigan’s young farmers want to stay here and they’re confident about their futures here in Michigan. That’s uplifting and encouraging news for our state,” Chamberlain said.

Eighty percent of the state’s young farmers surveyed said they are more optimistic about farming than they were five years ago, and 86 percent said they are better off compared to five years ago. In comparison, 80 percent of the 373 respondents to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s (AFBF) survey of young farmers and ranchers conducted during last month’s national Young Farmers & Ranchers Leadership Conference in Tulsa, Okla., said they were more optimistic, while 82 percent said they are better off during that same five-year timeframe.

Thirty-three percent of Michigan young farmers indicated that profitability and economic challenges are their No. 1 concern, 32 percent named the ability to buy farmland and 29 percent selected increasing government regulations. Nationally, 24 percent of the young farmers ranked overall profitability as their top concern, followed by government regulations at 23 percent. Two other concerns tied for third, with competition from more established farms and ranches, and willingness of parents to share management responsibilities each receiving 9 percent.

There is also a growing concern among the nation’s young farmers that activist groups will impact the way they farm. A total of 85 percent of the AFBF survey respondents were concerned or very concerned about activist groups, while only 7 percent expressed little or no concern. Seventy-seven percent of Michigan young farmers indicated they are highly or very highly concerned about this.

Government regulation pertaining to climate change ranked of high concern for 87 percent of Michigan’s young farmers. Nationally, 79 percent of respondents shared this concern.

“Activist groups are becoming more and more vocal, so that is something we always have to keep our eyes on,” AFBF Young Farmer & Rancher Committee Chair Will Gilmer, a dairy farmer from Alabama, said in a statement. “There is also a great deal of concern about all the ways the government wants to regulate us, whether it’s cap-and-trade or different Environmental Protection Agency rules.”

Michigan’s young farmers realize that communicating with the public is a necessity to promote their industry. Seventy-six percent said communicating with consumers is a formal part of their job. New technology – especially the Internet – is helping reshape the ways in which young farmers are communicating. Survey results show that 92 percent of respondents use the social networking site Facebook, 15 percent post videos to the video-sharing site YouTube and nearly 10 percent use the micro-blogging site Twitter. Nearly three-fourths of the AFBF survey respondents have a Facebook page, 12 percent post videos on YouTube and nearly 10 percent use Twitter.

“Perhaps unlike any other generation before them, today’s young farmers are becoming increasingly involved in formal and informal communication efforts to show consumers just how much farmers care about safe food, their animals, the environment and Michigan’s future,” Chamberlain said. “They are stepping up to the plate as spokespeople and embracing a wide variety of avenues to get the message across, and they’re doing an amazing job of telling their story.”

Gilmer agreed that young farmers are embracing communications with those outside of the traditional farm sector.

“We’re recognizing that we need to get out there and talk with our consumers, and we are doing so,” Gilmer said. “Social media is just one more avenue for us to reach those who buy and consume what we produce.”