Develop Support Services and Institutions to Support Diversification

• Support future farmer programs and farm link programs to create a pool of people interested in continuing agriculture in local areas

• Provide ranch and farm finance and business planning programs through local schools, including community colleges

• Provide programs that link farm, ranch, and forest landowners to professional estate, tax, and transition planning resources

• Support Resource Conservation Districts, Agricultural Extension offices, and Resource Conservation and Development Councils by stabilizing existing budgets and providing new sources of income in areas where they are underserved

Encourage the Next Generation

Population growth throughout the SOSA region plays a significant role in the increased need for residential land. Coupling the population growth with an aging population of farmers and ranchers in the SOSA region creates the potential for many parcels of agricultural lands to change hands and possibly uses. Many of the farmers and ranchers are nearing retirement age and active farming and ranching on their lands is not necessarily ensured.

In the 25 counties represented in the SOSA region, the average age of agriculturalists increased from 1997 to 2002 in all but Inyo and Mono counties in California and Carson City in Nevada.

Preserving working landscapes is a worthwhile and needed cause, but if the region lacks a sufficient amount of people interested in working the land, the effort will not succeed.

Efforts to support and encourage younger individuals interested in agriculture often concentrate on public policy and regulatory issues affecting agriculture. Providing ranch and farm finance and business planning programs through local school including community colleges will better prepare future farmers and ranchers for the wide array of issues they will face.

Case Studies and Resources

Nevada Junior Agricultural Loan Program

Active members of recognized farm youth organizations between the ages of 9-21 are eligible for the Nevada Junior Agricultural Loan Program. The applicant must develop an agricultural project that can pay back the loan through production and marketing of a commodity. Loans up to $10,000 may be approved.

California Young Cattlemen’s Committee

The California Cattlemen’s Association maintains a Young Cattlemen’s Committee open to any person under the age of 25 or a full-time high school, junior college or university student. As a working committee, it has a seat on each of the Cattlemen’s standing committee’s as well as a seat on the Board of Directors. The intent of the Young Cattlemen’s Committee is to actively encourage future ranchers about issues affecting the industry within California.

California and Nevada: Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers and Ranchers

The Young Farmers and Ranchers focus on legislative awareness at the state and national level and leadership seminar training. Membership is open to agriculturalists between 18-35-years-old actively participating in agricultural production, banking and business. Members volunteer time at their local county Farm Bureau.

California FarmLink

California FarmLink matches retiring farmers to aspiring ones for apprenticeship and internships, and farm/land sales. It offers Subsidized Technical Assistance and other “farm families in transition” services, and loans through its Farm Opportunities Loan Program.