An Aging Farm Population

The future of North Carolina family farming lies in our current generation’s ability to effectively transition their farm business assets to the next generation of producers, either within their families or without. Effective farm business transitions require advanced and sustained planning, a process many farm families have not begun.

The recently-released 2002 Census of Agriculture confirms that North Carolina’s farm community is aging. Since the late 1970’s, the average age of a North Carolina farm operator has steadily increased to 56 years, and nearly a quarter of North Carolina’s farmers are aged 65 or older. These statistics forewarn of an enourmous transfer of farm assets over the next two decades. If steps are not taken now to plan for their continued farm use, a large amount of North Carolina's most valuable agricultural asset - land - could be permanently removed from production.

These statistics also tell us that not enough younger operators are finding entry opportunities into production agriculture.

Equally important to our state's farming future is the ability of young and other beginning farmers to overcome the barriers they face starting and operating a profitable farm business. These entering farmers need creative equity-building strategies designed to give the entering farmer the assets and management skills he or she needs to run a successful farm business.

The North Carolina Farm Transition Network was formed to help reverse the trend of farm business exits that are caused by poor business succession planning, or by the absence of a successor within the operator’s family.