<\/p>\n
Agriculture is facing a long-term math problem.<\/p>\n
Current farmers and ranchers are aging, more children are walking away from family operations, and young entrepreneurs face monumental startup costs. How do you keep land in production?<\/p>\n
The average age of farmers and ranchers in Montezuma County crept up to 59.5 years in 2012 from 57.6 in 2007, according to recently released agricultural census data.<\/p>\n
Dolores County saw a similar trend with its current average, 59.6 years of age.<\/p>\n
The state average hit 58.9 years in 2012, up from 57 years in 2007.<\/p>\n
Finding new, young operators from the suburbs seems like a fairy tale. But there are nuances the data don\u2019t capture.<\/p>\n
Denver-metro native Dustin Stein, 30, took over the management of Stubborn Farm and Burk Beef near Mancos two years ago and plans to be part of the operation long term.<\/p>\n
Stein fell in love with gardening after moving to Durango for college. After working all day in construction, he would spend his spare time in the garden.<\/p>\n
His reasoning at the time was: \u201cMan, if I have this much energy for this, maybe I should do this for a living.\u201d<\/p>\n
So he took a beginning farmers class from the Colorado State University extension office and started off by interning and then leasing a small plot of land.<\/p>\n
The biggest challenge he faced was finding the property with water rights to buy.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t confident I was ever going to find that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Teaming up with Patricia and Jack Burk, who wanted to see their land continue to be used for agriculture, was a good fit. Stein is one of fairly substantial group of young producers in the Mancos Valley.<\/p>\n
Much of Colorado\u2019s farm and ranch land is priced for development rather than agriculture use, and this is a problem that is widely recognized.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tremendously expensive and risky,\u201d said Terry Frankhauser, the executive vice president of the Colorado Cattlemen\u2019s Association.<\/p>\n
It takes someone who is driven and committed over a long period of time. The path to a ranch for a fresh entrepreneur is not straightforward and may require an outside source of income.<\/p>\n
\u201cCows will never pay for the land they are running on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Children in farming and ranching families can have a natural advantage, and these families may skew the averages a bit.<\/p>\n
Often farms and ranches may be held in the patriarch or matriarch\u2019s name, and this has always skewed the average age to the high side, Frankhauser said.<\/p>\n
This is the case for Destry Daves and his sons, who raise beans, alfalfa and cattle near Road BB in Montezuma County.<\/p>\n
Daves\u2019 son Jay Daves is an incoming senior in high school and will be starting his fourth summer farming. This year, he is leasing 488 acres of his own.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like this is what God wants me to do,\u201d Jay said.<\/p>\n
The family works together on the entire operation pooling resources to buy equipment and manage the land.<\/p>\n
Jay\u2019s older brother recently graduated from high school and will be joining the Army, but he plans to return to run the livestock side of operations.<\/p>\n
It has long been the trend that kids may leave the farm to work for a while and then return. But the trend is for fewer kids return to the farms. That is a concern for the industry, said Frankhauser.<\/p>\n
Farmers and ranchers may choose to sell their land to developers to fund their retirement, which leads to urbanization. This is increasingly common on the Front Range.<\/p>\n
Mancos rancher Larry Everett, 73, chose to place his most productive land into a conservation easement to make sure it would remain in agriculture.<\/p>\n
By entering into a conservation easement, farmers can make 50 percent of the money they would receive from a developer. The easement also reserves the land for agriculture and thereby reduce the price by taking away its development value.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt actually makes the land more available to other ranchers,\u201d said Everett, a third-generation rancher.<\/p>\n
To tackle the problem, Colorado Cattlemen\u2019s Association and CSU is working to help new ranchers through The Colorado Ranching Legacy Program.<\/p>\n
The program works with young generational ranchers on transferring ranches and the tax burden that can arise if the transfer is done after the landowner\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
In the worst-case scenarios, ranches have been sold to pay taxes, said Devin Murnin, the program\u2019s director.<\/p>\n
The program also helps ranchers with sustainable businesses plans and increasing profitability.<\/p>\n
But solving the current agriculture riddle is a tough.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to measure if you\u2019re making a difference,\u201d said Frankhauser.<\/p>\n
However, Stein, who\u2019s in the process of expanding the Burks\u2019 cattle herd and starting a local distribution co-op, is optimistic the area will remain economically rooted in agriculture for decades to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s in the blood of all people from here and a lot of people that move here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
For more information on the Colorado Ranching Legacy Program visit: http:\/\/www.coloradocattle.org\/coloradoranchinglegacyprogram.aspx<\/p>\n