It’s time to put the sexy back into farming if young people are going to be lured back, says budding Red Deer farmer Mike Kozlowski.
That means ditch the old-farmer-in suspenders-image and embrace the kind of cheery charm showed by a group of telegenic United Kingdom yogurt makers who sang the merits of their product on YouTube— in rap no less.
Kozlowski, whose two-acre Steel Pony Farm near Fort Normandeau will produce its first vegetables to pre-paid customers this summer, was one of the guest speakers at The MAG Cafe’s panel discussion of “Does Farming Have a Future?”
Potential young farmers must be shown the satisfaction, joy and sense of community that comes from farming and dispel some of the myths that farming means empty pockets and bleeding hands, Kozlowski told an audience of about 30 at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery on Wednesday night.
“That’s kind of what I’m banking on for the future of agriculture.”
In an agricultural environment where a $500,000 investment is needed to set up a typical farm anywhere near an urban centre, Kozlowski sees room for smaller-scale farming where producers have control of the product from their farm to the customer’s plate.
Roger Epp, Dean of the University of Alberta’s Augustana Campus in Camrose, said there is little doubt farming and rural Canada are in trouble. The number of families making a living from the farm has plummeted in the last 15 years and those who are farming are aging. There are real questions about who will producing our food in the future and to whom farming knowledge will be passed.
Epp, who has written extensively about rural issues, finds some optimism in Canadian agriculture however.
“I think there are hopeful signs. There are people who want to farm, and want to do it very passionately.”
To open the farm gate to new producers, the high capital costs of starting a farm must be addressed, he said. New farmers will also have to look past traditional farm practices.
Amy MacTaggart, University of Alberta student and Central Lacombe 4-H member, said by using technology to develop better strains of crops and growing more than one crop in a year yields can be boosted in a continuation of the “green revolution” that began in the 1940s when dramatic increases in production began.
Improving farming practices in the developing world can also significantly boost the amount of food produced.
Further, using oceans for growing food through the efficient use of fish farms would greatly add to world food supplies. Managed correctly, fish farms can also help the environment, said MacTaggart.
The panel discussion was organized as part of the museum’s The Farm Show, a three-part visual exploration of issues facing today’s farmers, which runs until November.
pcowley@www.reddeeradvocate.com