Millenials Turn to Farming
All across America, in the wheat fields, hog pens, and milking barns, aging farmers often repeat a sad lament. Younger generations, they often say, don’t want to be farmers. The work is too hard, the profits too slim.
Thousands of farms owned by farming families for many generations have shuttered and sold in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in recent decades. Other farmers, or their children, cling to untended acres for years, hoping to sell to a housing or commercial real estate developer or for younger adults to knock on their door with newfound optimism for how their land can be utilized.
These are several of their stories.
HUSBAND AND WIFE’S STORY
STILL ACTIVE IN OTHER CAREERS ENABLES FARM-RELATED CAREERS
Joe Kalucki, 37, and Kelly O’Neill, 35, are married, together raising a son while each parent works full time in separate careers: Joe in digital marketing while Kelly works by day for New Jersey’s Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Says Kelly, “We’re millennial farmers; we both have full-time jobs because of crippling student loan debt.” Before her farming career, she worked in Washington, D.C., then at farms in Maryland and Vermont, learning how to make goat cheese on an island off the coast of France.
In contrast to husband Joe, Kelly has more of the ‘green thumb’ and it’s been places. “I think I’ve delivered like 80 goat kids in three months,” she said.
STARTING FARM BASED CAREERS
The couple bought their nine-acre family farm in 2015. They were married in a ceremony there soon after, and now have a young son who, they note with a combination of amusement and pride, is far muddier and goat-aware than they were as kids.
Naming their business Timberline Farms in Hammonton, N.J., near the ‘Pinelands’ the couple developed products unfamiliar to most old-school farmers. Like a “pleasure oil” made of sunflower oil and an assortment of herbs.
“It’s lube,” Kalucki said. “I guess I don’t know another farm that sells lube.”
Their business is best known for its U-Pick sunflower fields – perfect for selfie photos – along with its goat milk soap and the lube, known as ‘Petra’s Pleasure Oil.’
Together, the couple also tend to social media with funny, self-deprecating videos of their newfangled farming life. It’s fun, yes, the couple said, but also vital for business.
“The younger farmers, it seems, have two communities: our in-person community and also social media, where we can connect with farmers all across the world. You have to have a presence, “ Kalucki said.
SINGLE FEMALE’S STORY
FAMILY AND CAREER BACKGROUND
Christa Barfield is a Black female, known to many in the Philadelphia, PA area as “FarmerJawn.” She grew up in the Germantown section of the city and worked in health care for a decade until a trip several years ago to the island of Martinique changed her life.
SEEING DIFFERENT PEOPLE AT WORK SPARKS A NEW CAREER IDEA
While vacationing on the West Indies island, “I saw Black people farming on the island and that was an inspiration to me,” Barfield said. “Not just farming, but Black farmers who owned the land. That was the key for me.”
When Barfield returned to Philadelphia, she opened a tea company and then another company, which she named “FarmerJawn” including greenhouses and storefronts.
She recently began organic farming while renting a 128-acre property owned by Westtown School in nearby Chester County (about an hour by car from center city Philadelphia).
CAREER CHALLENGE – NOT APPEARING TO BE A TYPICAL FARMER
Barfield says she has experienced the ‘agricultural cold shoulder’ at times, particularly at her latest venture in Chester County, where she is obviously an ethnic minority who took over a farm produce business which had been operating for many years, with many loyal customers.
Reading some online comments, Barfield sums up her thoughts about the scrutiny she has seen: “I guess people that live near a farm, that patronized it over years, start to feel they know a lot about agriculture.”
FOCUSING ON A BUSINESS GOAL, NOT THE CRITICS
According to Barfield, branching out to Chester County made FarmerJawn the largest, regenerative, organic produce farm owned by a Black woman in America.
She’s set bigger goals, too. “We want to harvest a million pounds of produce,” said Barfield.
ANOTHER COUPLE’S STORY
David Darling, Jr. and his wife, Anne, also took an unconventional path to owning The Farm at Catawissa Creek, a picturesque, 130-acre organic farm and retreat center in Columbia County, within central Pennsylvania.
FARMING INTEREST STARTED WITH TRYING TO HELP OTHERS
David, 34, was a mathematics major and lacrosse player in college. He worked serving the ‘unhoused’ in Philadelphia after college and began to ponder food sourcing. According to the farm’s website, he wanted to “reconcile his relationship with the natural world.” Said David, “I needed to go to the source and be a producer.”
RANDOM OPPORTUNITY TO SECURE LAND FOR FARMING
He delved into farming and vegetable growing-apprenticeships in Pennsylvania and chanced upon a man whose family owned a vacant farm in Catawissa. That family had been waiting patiently for years for someone to come along and take over. They offered David a steeply discounted price.
“They waited for someone who would preserve the farm,” concluded David.
Anne, 32, studied fashion in Florence and Milan and worked for a menswear company in New York City. Together they sell direct-to-market vegetables, raise Merino sheep for knitwear and host retreats and campers.
CAREER CHALLENGE – OLD FACILITY NEEDS IMMEDIATE UPGRADES
The Darlings are on social media but don’t rely on it too heavily. They said they haven’t had negative experiences with neighbors in their rural area. “Nobody has ever asked us a political question,” said David. Still, farming is never simple. They inherited a bone-cold farmhouse built in 1900 that required an extensive overhaul.
“There’s understandable reasons why farming can seem so insurmountable to a young person,” David noted.
THE FUTURE
The Darlings and Kalucki / O’Neill families share similar observations: friends from the city want to visit often. The Darlings hope to bring more people onto their farm for stays and, perhaps, draw more people into farming.
GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS TO ASSIST ‘WANNABE’ FARMERS
Pennsylvania has a variety of programs under the banner of “Beginning Farmers” that assist wannabe farmers with loans and grants. According to the state’s Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania leads the nation in the percentage of farmers who are under age 35, at 14%.
The New Jersey Farm Bureau didn’t have available statistics about the state’s young farmers.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture didn’t include the ‘Garden State’ (N.J.) among the nation’s top states for “young producers.”
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These career stories are based on a news article written by Jason Nark, published by the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper on February 18, 2024, plus internet research.
