STARTING FROM SCRATCH
Oley farmers advocate for tax breaks and other changes to grow more young farmers
As the economy slipped into the Great Recession, Lindsey Shapiro and Landon Jefferies found themselves drawn to farming and a journey that would lead them to Oley. But, as new young farmers without family connections, there would be obstacles. They had just graduated from Vassar College. He was a political science major and she was sociology major - not exactly studies that are directly applicable to farming, Shapiro said.
With apprenticeships and stints at farms in the Hudson Valley and Philadelphia, the couple began to gain the foundation of knowledge and experience they needed to step out on their own. They were also saving for land and equipment as Shapiro worked in the private and nonprofit sectors. A low estimate put their startup costs, without land, at $20,000. Land, even a small farm, would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Another barrier: Finding farmland near lucrative popular urban markets before deep-pocketed developers swooped in. They put out feelers with friends, but their circle wasn’t deeply connected to legacy farms.
The opportunity to lease land at a farm on Old State Road came through an acquaintance at The Food Trust.
“We had been hoping to find a farm a little bit closer to Philly, and then this opportunity came up and there was so much infrastructure in place that came along with it, we were able to jump in sooner than we anticipated, without the startup costs that we were forecasting,” Shapiro said.
The property owners wanted to see the fertile land continue to be farmed. There was a propagation house, pasture fencing, well and hydrants. And a tractor that Jefferies had wanted.
“It was as close to a turn-key farm as we had seen,” Shapiro said.
Their first lease in 2011 was for just a year and they farmed just an acre. Nine years later, they still leasing and are sustaining their family on five-acre produce operation called Root Mass Farm.
“I think the part that people were skeptical of was the durability of the model and whether or not you could continue to make a living at this scale through these markets growing specialty crops for any extended amount of time,” Shapiro said. “I think as our farm and farms like ours continue to plug away, season after season, people are beginning to accept that it is not THEIR style of farming but it is A style of farming that can continue to work.”
If farming is going to exist in Pennsylvania, it’s going to need more willing young farmers like Shapiro and Jefferies. And they are going to need help getting access to land, advocates say.
The state’s farmers are getting older and selling their land. For every three principal farm operators in Pennsylvania over 65, there is only one under 35, according to 2017 Ag Census . Between 2012 and 2017, the state lost more than 6,000 farms, with 400,000 acres transitioning out of farmland. Berks County lost 230 farms, with 9,000 acres (4 %) transitioning out of farmland while its neighbors fared even worse. Chester County lost with 84 farms and 13, 981 acres (8%) of farmland while Lancaster lost 549 farms and 45,532 acres (10 %) of farmland.
The biggest obstacle is access to land.
“In the last year we have been holding listening sessions with young farmers in Pennsylvania and heard the No. 1 challenge is land access,” said Karen Gardner, Pennsylvania policy associate for National Young Farmers Coalition.
The Coalition published a report in June outlining the struggles of young farmers and proposing some solutions. Shapiro and Jefferies’ story of Root Mass Farm became a case study in the report.
Access to affordable, high-quality farmland is crucial to the survival of farming as a profession and lifestyle in Pennsylvania, the report pointed out.
“Due to high farmland prices, development pressure, and the lack of a transparent market for land, young farmers are struggling to find secure land access,” the report said. “Among farmers who lease land, many operate under short-term, tenuous lease arrangements — sometimes relying on only a handshake agreement. Without long-term, reliable and affordable land tenure, young farmers cannot fully invest their land and businesses.”
According to the report, farm real estate values in Pennsylvania have increased consistently in recent years. In 2018, the average price of agricultural land in the Commonwealth was nearly double the national average. Between 2007 and 2012, 34,900 acres of agricultural land in the state were converted to developed land. In southeastern Pennsylvania, the median sale price of agriculture property is well above the state average, according to recent research. Berks’ median is $350,000, while Lancaster’s is $617,500 and Chester’s is $582,000.
The Coalition reported that some attendees at its Eastern Pennsylvania listening session reported seeing preserved farms that were once producing food and raising livestock transition to estates owned by non-farmers who lease to haying operations. This feedback suggests that nonagricultural second home buyers are competing with farmers for in preserved agricultural land.
Finding solutions
State Sen. Judy Schwank, a Ruscombmanor Township Democrat and minority chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, has met with members of the young farmers coalition and supported some policy changes to help young farmers get more access to land.
Schwank pointed out that Pennsylvania leads the nation in preserving farms. According to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, to date 5,329 farms have been approved for easement purchases, totaling 552,702 acres.
So it makes sense to help young farmers access land.
“As taxpayers, we’ve invested a lot of money making sure land is preserved,” Schwank said.
In the fall, the PA Farm Bill’s Realty Transfer Tax Exemption became available for owners of preserved farms who transfer a farm to a qualified beginner farmer. The bill was championed by Schwank. Realty transfer tax will not be imposed on transfers of real estate that part of Pennsylvania’s Farmland Preservation Program if the transfer is to a qualified beginning farmer.
And earlier this month, the state rolled out a Farm Vitality Grant program to help farmers and prospective farmers with business plans and strategies.
Shapiro and Gardner said there is more to be done.
“How do you make farm jobs good jobs,” she said. “Part of it stems from the fact that people are accustomed to paying a price for food that doesn’t necessarily reflect the true costs of producing it. And so it can be difficult for farming to be a very lucrative profession. As a result of tight margins, it can’t pay people well. What are other ways you an imbue a job with value?”
To be sure, creating something tangible can compensate for lack of hourly high wages, but farmers and farm workers have families, student loan debt and healthcare costs.
Here are some other recommendations from the report:
• Prioritize Agricultural Conservation Easement Purchase Program (ACEPP) funds for working farm easements that include affordability and farmer ownership provisions and allocate funding to retroactively place these provisions on existing easements;
• Prioritize easement projects that include a minimum of a three-year written lease in cases where the landowner-applicant is leasing to a farmer;
• Create two young farmer member positions on the Agricultural Land Preservation Board;
• Incentivize the sale and renting of land and other agricultural assets to young and beginning farmers; and
• Increase support for Pennsylvania Farm Link.
• -Support on-farm training opportunities through a cost-sharing grant program.
• Establish a young farmer outreach coordinator position at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture;
• Establish a young farmer advisory committee to report to Pennsylvania State Government on gaps in existing resources for young farmers and how to modernize and improve upon those resources so they are more accessible; and
• Actively solicit ideas and feedback from young farmers when creating the Pennsylvania Agricultural Business Development Center.
“In the last year we have been holding listening sessions with young farmers in Pennsylvania and heard the No. 1 challenge is land access.” —Karen Gardner, Pennsylvania policy associate for National Young Farmers Coalition