In my area, land that was supposed to be subdivisions is being farmed again. One local golf course, less than 20 years old, was plowed up last year, it raised a pretty good corn crop. The clubhouse is being used as a family gathering spot by the farmer that owns it.
One thing that the modern farmer didn't highlight was the concentration of production. Sure, there are new farmers. I know a couple, they are folks who are raising landscape plants, and one is doing chickens, eggs, and beef. Both on 10 acres or less. But when it comes to raising convential crops, we have fewer folks doing more acres. Some are over 10K acres. There used to be a bunch of folks milking 50 to 100 cows around here. Now there are only a couple left, one has 2500 cows. Another is at 1500. There is a new organic place, I think they are at 50. Overall, I see fewer folks producing more, and fewer landowners.
I know 2 guys who grew up on farms, who loved the idea of farming, but they never could get over the hump on it. It's hard to even rent land, much less buy it. Most farmers that sell out, have buyers waiting, frequently relatives. Both of these guys spent years renting scraps of land, using old equipment, but eventually gave up. It wasn't gonna happen for them.
