How to keep the younger generation involved in farming...

[ohio jones]

In Georgia there are less than 70 dairy farms in the entire state and they average over 1,200 milking cows. In South Carolina they are down to less than 30 dairy operations. Google seems to think there were between 1,000 and 1,200 in Georgia the year I was born.

That probably tracks with PA as well, though I haven't looked at statistics. My cousin got out of the dairy business when a herd of <100 cows was no longer profitable, and now raises heifers, goats, and crops. His neighbor, my second cousin, went whole hog (if one can apply that idiom to bovines) into automated robotic feeding, milking, and herd management. Both of course are udderly dependent on market conditions.

[barnhart]

In Georgia there are less than 70 dairy farms in the entire state and they average over 1,200 milking cows. In South Carolina they are down to less than 30 dairy operations. Google seems to think there were between 1,000 and 1,200 in Georgia the year I was born.

That probably tracks with PA as well, though I haven't looked at statistics. My cousin got out of the dairy business when a herd of <100 cows was no longer profitable, and now raises heifers, goats, and crops. His neighbor, my second cousin, went whole hog (if one can apply that idiom to bovines) into automated robotic feeding, milking, and herd management. Both of course are udderly dependent on market conditions.

Out of curiosity I googled the high point of dairies in Georgia and it seems around the start of WW2 there were over 6,000.

[JohnH]

If you want to bring back small scale ag in the rural south, I think it would require a lot government intervention, like reducing property tax to nearly nothing on land dedicated to small agriculture, reducing income tax to nearly nothing on agriculture goods, especially sold locally. Let local municipalities regulate food safety on goods produced and sold in their region.

Maine and a few other states in the area (Vermont and NH?) have done a lot of "food sovereignty" laws like this - for example, there are far less regulations on food produced and sold inside the same county, and delegation from the state to even let counties regulate their own food. (So for example a more urban area might set a few more restrictions.) The thinking is that problems with outbreaks, etc. are going to be far less when food isn't being shipped a long distance before reaching the final consumer.

Interestingly this cuts across partisan lines too - it's not a left vs right issue.

In my state property tax is already nearly nothing for small scale agriculture, to the point it would make no sense at all for me to get rid of my cows, chickens. and stop growing a modest kitchen garden - the tax savings is pretty substantial.

[Thomas_muntzer]

I think the world needs wholesome, healthful food more than ever.

Growing produce locally is far more sustainable than importing it or trucking it halfway across the country.

This statement is more relevant than ever. With the disastrous war in Iran and the looming diesel crisis, local production is set to take on critical importance.