RED DEER – When members of the Future Alberta Beef Breeders met almost two years ago, they thought a livestock show might be a good way to bring together young people interested in agriculture.
They soon realized there was a passion for farming among people aged 18-30 and they wanted more than just another cattle show.
Hence, the concept of Rock the Farm was born and eventually became a conference offering education and partying for young people across Alberta.
“We wanted something for those kids who are passionate about agriculture and want a future in it,” 27-year-old Shannon Northey of Red Deer said at the youth conference that was held in Red Deer Feb. 11-12.
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Most of the charter members went through 4-H or junior beef programs but when they turned 21 many did not feel ready to join older people in their activities.
“We realized there really wasn’t anything for this age group,” Northey said.
The goal is to form a rural youth society with regular conferences to attract young people from across the province who enjoy farming and want to stay in the industry.
The conference earlier this month drew 125 young people who attended seminars about marketing, business skills and farm succession.
They represent the generation whose children will be born in the 21st century and their expectations for the future are different from the hopes of their baby boomer parents.
They are a better educated, more worldly generation who rely on cell phones and the internet for information and communication.
“Trying to reach this group by mail didn’t work. Once we set up the website, it was like wildfire and the word spread,” Northey said.
Many participants have post secondary education or are in college or university. Many have outside jobs with dreams of earning enough money to get a stake in the farm.
“A lot of people are working off the farm because of the state the agricultural industry was in,” Northey said. “It is not feasible for a young person just to go out and buy a farm right now.”
Succession and how to buy into the farm is a key issue for many. Most of their parents are younger than 55, enjoy good health and are not ready to pass the torch.
The group’s president, 23-year-old David Schneider of Ardrossan, Alta., lives on the family farm but works in Edmonton as a welder for a company servicing the oil patch.
“One thing that we are fortunate about being in Alberta is that we have the oilfield,” he said.
“It is a booming industry where you can go in and make a bunch of money if you work hard at it and keep focused on where your money is going.”
Schneider runs his life on five year goals and wants a place in his family’s purebred Angus ranch with his middle-aged parents.
“I don’t want to weld for the rest of my life.”
Most of his friends are tradespeople who are earning enough money to bankroll a return to their farm roots. They have also realized their jobs may subsidize farms that have been in their families for generations.
“Lots of kids that are in post secondary education are planning on returning to the farm,” said Ashley Pearson, a 21-year-old agriculture student at the University of Alberta who also works as an agronomist. “Some are working now to be able to afford to buy more land because agriculture is so capital intensive.”
