Monday, November 21, 2011

Growing a new crop of farmers

The rising age of farmers is alarming, but the Quivira Coalition took that challenge and made it the centerpiece of their tenth annual conference, shining the spotlight on a series of enthusiastic and innovative young agrarians who are blazing trails toward farming’s future. The Quivira Coalition itself is a unique collaboration of ranchers and environmentalists originally formed in 2002 to defend public lands ranching, but it has evolved over the years to cover the niche where ranching and resource management interests overlap and to promote responsible land stewardship, including riparian restoration and carbon sequestration. Founder Courtney White plans to take a leave of absence in 2012 to write a book about how food production and land management can be used to build up soil and counteract climate change. The coalition has also been actively cultivating a new generation of sustainable farmers. In 2008, the group launched an apprenticeship program that pairs aspiring young professionals with farmer-mentors willing to host them for an intense educational experience. So far seven individuals have completed the program. Roughly half of the 400-plus convention participants were from New Mexico and southern Colorado, but dozens of speakers traveled from as far away as California and New England to tell their stories of gaining a toehold in farming and why it was worth the struggle. One name familiar to many in the region belongs to Jeff Gossage, son of major league baseball player, Goose Gossage. The younger Gossage has been managing the Medano-Zapata Ranch for the past six years after apprenticing for three and a half years under manager Duke Phillips on the Chico Basin Ranch near Colorado Springs...more

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