These people look younger than the average farmer (57 years old). That's good - I plan on eating for some time to come.
It has never been a harder time to be a farmer. Cultural and economic forces have devalued the profession, eroded rural landscapes and communities, and sent a whole generation of would-be farmers fleeing an inheritance of toxic industrialized debt and drudgery in droves. Most of the holdout farmers ain't spring chickens. And when they go, our food supply will have really "bought the farm" as well.
Meanwhile, all kinds of observant youngsters are fired up about farming the right way because they know our lives depend on it. Next to movie star, it's the hippest vocation to aspire to. But with the cost of land, equipment, labor and other inputs - in the context of a society that does not value food - the serious young producer has a near impossible row to hoe before the first seed hits the soil.
Enter Cerro Vista Young Farmers. Last year Daniel Carmona gave some young apprentices a 30+ year head start with the benefit of his experience, while they gave the biggest local produce producer the benefit of their focused labor. At the end of the season, they embarked on their careers growing our food with some savvy in the ol' tool shed and some cash in the pocket.