The Shifting Culture Surrounding Farm and Food

          Changes are occurring regarding the general ambiance and perception of farming. In the 1980's and 90's, the typical image of a farmer may have been one of a middle aged man with a mustache, white t-shirt, blue jeans, and John Deere hat riding an enormous tractor. In recent years, however, an old genre of farming, local farming, is reviving with new faces. These newcomers do not fit the stereotype of a gruff John Deere farmer at all. A traditional farmer might describe them as yuppies, hippies or hipsters, for that matter. They espouse things such as grass fed beef, free range chickens, craft beer, heirloom tomatoes; anything wholesome and natural. In the past few decades, many small family farms have died off and given way to large machinated corporate farms. The void left by these small farms is being replaced by this younger generation, many of whom are first time farmers that do not come from farming families. Nationally, the amount of U.S. farmers under the age of 35 has raised by 1.5% (Sutton). 

          With rising dissent toward GMO factory farms, Americans are turning increasingly toward smaller, local farms. In an interview with SLUG magazine, SLC Winter Farmers Market manager Alison Einerson said, “People are becoming more and more engaged on local food. They want to know where their food is coming from now more than ever. They want to know what's in their food more than ever, or more than in many decades since we started making frankenfoods a part of our daily lives. We're turning a corner back to a sustainable, local view.” This increased awareness of food sources accompanies the increased tally of new local farms.

          A phenomena of this shift is that many of these new farmers growing natural food are entering the field with the pursuit of ideals as their main motive, with little worry about the profitability or lack thereof in the business as long as they get by. “This is an idealistic crowd; nobody says that they're doing it to make money. Some describe their farming as a kind of protest against the idea that success means a big paycheck, or as a protest against an economy dominated by big corporations,” reported Dan Charles for NPR. Many are activists who see producing healthy food grown in sustainable ways as the most tangible way they can actually contribute. One farmer Charles interviewed, Ben Shute of Tivoli, New York, said: “It's all well and good—and important—to have political opinions, and protest, and things like that. But when you're farming, you get to live your values, and farm the world that you want to see.”

The gentle migration of city kids to small farms has created a niche culture. Farmers markets are hip places to be these days, with young folk sporting horn rimmed glasses, piercings and tattoos flock to peruse the produce. New small farming operations often merge traditional, natural methods of farming with modern technology by using social media to display their produce. Maintaining artsy, earthy Instagram accounts and Facebook pages helps grow a fertile following for farmers as they grow their produce.

“Latin American Restaurants & Winter Farmers Market.”SLUG Soundwaves: SLUG Magazine's Official Podcast. Episode #191. 5 March 2015

Charles, Dan. "Who Are The Young Farmers Of 'Generation Organic'? The Salt. National Public Radio. 12 Dec 2011.

Sutton, Deborah. “Farming: A hipster career for the younger generation.” Deseret News National. 8 January 2015.