First generation farmers: An assessment of their challenges, motivations, learning processes, and values

This dissertation is composed of 3 papers that investigate issues related to beginning and first-generation farmers' entry barriers, their motivations and learning processes, and the ideologies and values that have influenced their production and marketing practices. Each paper presents the results of qualitative research that investigates these issues in depth. Together, they contribute to an understanding of why first-generation and beginning farmers decide to participate in a challenging profession even when other options exist. They define the most significant barriers to new farmer entry; explain the ways in which individuals overcome significant impediments to the development of farming lifestyles and livelihoods; and explore the historical evolution of the alternative agriculture movements they have chosen to engage in. Becoming a farmer requires substantial capital, a broad range of knowledge resources, and a unique set of expectations and goals. Typically, the most substantial barriers to beginning farmer entry are 1) capital acquisition, 2) finding land, and 3) understanding farm business. This study explores the unique ways in which individual farmers deal with these barriers. It presents the stories of 4 successful first-generation farm families based on in-depth ethnographies, with specific focus on the motivations, learning processes, successes and struggles faced by each. It describes the evolution of organic ideology and values that have provided opportunities for these farmers to succeed, and offers suggestions for policies and programs that will support the entry, development, and sustainability of small-scale, organic first-generation farmers in the future.