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22 Fordham Envtl. L. Rev. 523 (2010-2011)
America's New Agrarians: Policy Opportunities and Legal Innovations to Support New Farmers

handle is hein.journals/frdmev22 and id is 529 raw text is: AMERICA'S NEW AGRARIANS: POLICY OPPORTUNITIES
AND LEGAL INNOVATIONS TO SUPPORT NEW
FARMERS'
Prof Neil D. Hamilton*
WHY THE NEW FARMER GENERATION IS SO IMPORTANT TO
AMERICA'S FUTURE
A strong argument can be made that no issue is more important to
the future of U.S. agriculture - and thus to our food supply and social
sustainability - than identifying who will be the next generation of
farmers who will steward the land and produce our food. The good
news is our nation is experiencing a surge in interest of people who
want to be farmers - what we can see as a generation of New
Agrarians.2 The interest of young people in food and agriculture is
almost overwhelming, and such a stark difference from past decades
when few in the younger generation wanted anything to do with
*Neil D. Hamilton is the Dwight D. Opperman Distinguished Professor of Law and
the Director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University Law School in Des
Moines.
1. This Article grows out of the Center's work on new farmers and is designed
to identify ideas for how the USDA and other organizations can consider new
initiatives to assist new farmers. It was developed for a symposium held by the
Fordham Environmental Law Review. It is the result of extensive travels and
research conducted during the 2010-11 school year on a sabbatical from my
teaching responsibilities at Drake University Law School. The Article represents
the third installment in a related series of essays written during this period, all
dealing with the future of America's food and agricultural system. Readers are
encouraged to consult the other two companion articles. Neil D. Hamilton, Moving
Toward Food Democracy: Better Food, New Farmers and the Myth of Feeding the
World, 16 DRAKE J. AGRIC. L. (forthcoming 2011); Neil D. Hamilton, Farms, Food
and the Future: Legal Issues and Fifteen Years of the New Agriculture, 26 J.
ENVTL. L. & LITIG. (forthcoming 2011).
2. See, e.g., Isolde Raftery, In New Food Culture, A Young Generation of
Farmers Emerges, N.Y. TIMES, Mar. 6,2011, at Al9.

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