The American Farmland Trust states that each year roughly one-million acres of our farmland are lost to industrial development and the extension of urban sprawl. In San Luis Obispo County alone, 7,000 acres of arable land were converted to urban sprawl in just two years, according to the Central Coast Foodshed Guide, which was published in 2010 by the Cal Poly Center for Sustainability. Much of the acreage that has been lost is a result of our nation’s aging farming population which is 55 nationally and 59 in the Central Coast Region. Each year, more and more of our farmers are retiring and they are often unable to guarantee that their land will remain in cultivation due to rising property values that make owning farmland well beyond the reach of most beginning farmers, yet easily obtainable forcorporate developers.
But there’s a shining beacon of hope amidst these valid and pressing concerns, and it lives within the bright-eyed, wild-haired youth— a new crop of farmers that are springing up like the wild mustard flowers that cover our Central Coast hillsides, promising of a brighter future. Despite incredible odds, the next generation of farmers is returning to the land, taking up the plow, and continuing to wear in the paths forged by the ‘Back to the Landers’ a few decades prior. With ambition to guide them and innovation to carry them through, the young farmers of this country are sowing the seeds of a movement.
Happily, the Central Coast already boasts of a plethora of small to mid-sized farms and is rife with training opportunities for beginning farmers. The young farmer movement has definitely taken root here, and continues to thrive. Transcending urban and rural boundaries, the movement has established vigor, even among young people who do not come from agricultural backgrounds.
The Greenhorns, a documentary showcasing the spirit, practices, and needs of our nation's young farming community, was recently screened in San Luis Obispo to a standing-room-only crowd, which didn't dwindle until nearly midnight, as the room-full of excited, inspired, 20 to 30-somethings stayed to talk to one another until long after the credits had finished rolling. The crowd consisted mainly of young people in pursuit of a wide array of college degrees, but not necessarily in agriculture. Students of engineering, a smattering of degrees in the humanities and even architecture, filled the room. In fact, the event was organized by a 4th year Cal Poly architecture student, Alex Vincent, who is certified in Permaculture Design and has a passion for melding agriculture with the built environment. He recently founded the Cal Poly Permaculture Club, which hosted the event, after returning from a 10-week Permaculture Internship in Australia.
Another meeting of the minds, in true Central Coast form, took place at the beginning of February in Pacific Grove, where the 32nd annual Eco Farm Conference was held. A fleet hybrids, station wagons, and biodiesel trucks converged upon the Asilomar Conference Grounds, bringing with them seeds, shovels, Macbooks and other necessary implements of a farming revolution. Nearly 2,000 people, a record number of attendees, came to discuss new techniques and old traditions in ecological farming. The number of young farmers in attendance was nothing short of astounding, and their youthful ambition was matched with aged accomplishment as new ideas enthusiastically bounced off one another while well-seasoned old-timers shared their wisdom. Resiliency and hope electrified the air.
Juan Cuavas Badilla Gathers Seeds for the Future
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Words of advice and stories of inspiration weren’t the only things that were traded there. Each year, the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center hosts a seed exchange where heirlooms and hard-to-find organic varieties are traded among farmers, young and old. Juan Cuevas Badilla, 32, recently started a 2.5 acre farm in Santa Cruz. He was born in Chile and orphaned at the age of three. At 10, he was adopted and moved to the United States, where he emancipated himself as a 16-year-old. Juan finds solace in his fields, and recognizes that "health [both physical and mental] is at your fingertips," especially when you are engaged in sustainable agricultural production. At the Eco Farm Conference, he was gathering two types of seeds for his farm, both tangible and intangible. In the future, he hopes to sow seeds of hope in the hearts of at-risk youth by starting an orphanage in Santa Cruz where he will teach job skills and help young people get into college. "When your hands are focused and working," he says, "it opens up space in your mind, and allows you to really immerse yourself into your thoughts." When farming, "you’re not just using your hands, you’re using your head too, and also your heart."
Farmers Gather to Exchange Seeds at the EcoFarm Conference
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Another Eco Farm Conference attendee, Wiley Connell, 23, is the harvest manager for The Farmer and the Cook, which is a restaurant, CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Program and natural grocery store in Ojai. He, too, uses his heart as equally as he uses his hands when producing food. It is his genuine love of his chosen profession that has earned him the nickname 'Smiley Wiley' and enables him to work tirelessly for six or seven days a week, often rising before the sun, smiling all the while. He got his start in agriculture as an arborist and avid gardener, who suddenly had more produce than he knew what to do with. At first he was giving everything away because "it felt wrong to sell it, since growing it didn’t feel like work," he was "just doing it because [he] loved it," but soon realized that "there’s a fine line between just doing what you love, and being realistic about finances," and obtained employment with The Farmer and the Cook. He, like many other young folks at the conference, dreams of deepening his connection with the land by starting his own farm someday.
A recent survey conducted by the National Young Farmers Coalition reveals that the majority of young and beginning farmers, like Wiley and Juan, didn't grow up on a family farm and state that their two most formidable barriers to entry are lack of capital and access to affordable, arable land. Fortunately, there are many groups that are working diligently to assuage these issues.
One such organization is the Central Coast Agriculture Network, a non-profit based in San Luis Obsipo. In an effort to ease burdens on beginning farmers and foster a more sustainable future, they are conducting an assessment of their regional food system in tandem with a survey of publicly owned land in their county, while simultaneously developing an educational farm on a 25-acre agricultural reserve. Woven together, these three projects willfortify markets for local produce, provide educational opportunities for aspiring Central Coast farmers and bring more acreage into cultivation in a manner that is accessible and affordable for beginning farmers with limited resources.
Further assuaging the issue of access to capital isthe Slow Money movement, which dovetails off the international Slow Food movement. Slow Money recognizes that "a new generation of entrepreneurs is starting to rebuild local food systems and the capital available to them is insufficient." This organization envisions a new type of investing that seeks to preserve farmland, while "supporting a new generation of small and mid-size organic farmers, rebuilding local and regional food processing and distribution, improving nutrition and otherwise remedying the imbalances of a food system that is too consolidated, too global and too industrial." On June 23rd, Woody Tasch, founder of Slow Money, will be expressing this vision at Taste of the Future, a benefit dinner for the Cal Poly Center for Sustainability which will be held at Hearst Castle in San Simeon.
Central Coast residents are fortunate in many ways, not the least of which is the vibrant and well-supported young farmer movement which has established itself here. These young farmers and the organizations that support them will continue to flourish as they build upon the foundation for a more sustainable future and a healthier Central Coast for all to enjoy.
