Safety in numbers

It feels good to be part of a movement.

That’s how it feels being a young farmer.

We are part of a generation of minds and bodies who have seen our parents plunked into offices, our food turned into industrial cardboard-tasting semi- nourishment and our contentment hard-wired to the accrual of stuff. That doesn’t mean we have to follow this path, but it does mean a commitment to change.

Some say it takes guts, some say it takes land, some say it takes unhappiness in your first career choice to be able to make the move. But I want to throw another one on the list: it takes safety in numbers.

With more and more consumers wanting a greater connection to the food they take home and eat, non-industrial organic food production has a place in today’s world. There’s a demand for it. People feel angry about what’s being poured onto crops, disgusted by large-scale poultry production and concerned about what the future will bring for our families and our ecology. We do, too.

It feels good to know that we are not alone. There’s young blood in the field listening to older, wiser minds. There are smart souls convening to solve big, bad problems with simple, solid practices.

That’s right. It’s a movement. Even The New York Times says so.