[00:04.68]13) Ageing American Farmers
[00:09.38]Studies show the average age of American farmers is slowly rising.
[00:15.78]Fewer young Americans are deciding to enter farming than in the past.
[00:21.39]And the number of farmers and working farms in the United States has decreased over time.
[00:29.49]The Economic Research Service released a report describing the findings.
[00:35.94]The agency is part of the United States Department of Agriculture.
[00:41.93]The Economic Research Service says the average age of an American farmer is fifty-four years old.
[00:50.86]It notes the per- centage of farmers fifty-five or older rose to 61% in 1997.
[01:00.40]Only thirty-seven percent of farmers were fifty-five or older in 1954.
[01:08.10]The new report says farmers generally are older than other American workers for several reasons.
[01:16.70]Farmers can continue working on their farms long after most wage earners have retired.
[01:24.48]The number of years that Americans can expect to live has increased.
[01:30.36]This means many farmers can continue working until they are very old.
[01:36.47]The increased use of ma- chines in agriculture also has helped older farmers.
[01:43.68]They can use machines instead of physical labor.
[01:47.42]The Economic Research Service notes that the future of farming in the United States
[01:54.10]depends on the employment of more new workers on farms.
[01:59.04]However, fewer young Americans are becoming farmers.
[02:04.29]The percentage of farmers younger than thirty-five years old has dropped from 15% in 1954 to 8% three years ago.
[02:16.80]People usually enter farming through the family farm business.
[02:21.92]Other people enter farming through what is called the agricultural ladder.
[02:27.75]Under this method, someone working on a farm becomes the owner and operator.
[02:34.85]The report says there has been a recent increase in the number of some groups of minority farmers.
[02:42.98]This may suggest that more and more farms in the United States are being operated by former workers.
[02:52.46]A person's decision to enter farming is linked to economic and business conditions.
[03:00.06]The report says many young Americans have chosen non-farm positions with higher wages and better job guarantees.
[03:10.48]It notes, however, that more than half of all farm families have at least two people earning money. |