About Northeast New Farmers
Who are Northeast new farmers?
They come from all backgrounds, are in all stages of development,
and bring a wide range of resources and talents. From data gathered
from new farmer focus groups held in the region and other sources,
we know that:
- Most Northeast new farmers are young, although some are older, "mid-life
career changers"
- More and more new farmers are coming from non-farm backgrounds — they did
not grow up on farms. Some are from farming families; they may be the next
generation on an established family farm, or may move onto a different farm
- In our region, new farmers are ethnically and culturally diverse; there are
new farmers of Asian and Hispanic origin, but few African-American new farmers
- Northeast new farmers are interested in a very wide range of farming enterprise
types, crops, production and marketing strategies
- Many new farmers will start out farming part-time, and some will continue
part-time for a variety of reasons
- New farmers who want to farm or have started to farm in the Northeast come
from urban, suburban or rural backgrounds. They come from every Northeast state,
and some come from outside our region, drawn to the Northeast for its markets,
support for alternative agriculture and diversity of farming opportunities
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