USDA census shows more farmers are getting younger in New England.
It's summer harvest time for New England farmers, and a USDA census shows more of those farmers are getting younger.
Between 2007 and 2012, Maine alone showed a 40 percent increase in farmers 34 years old and younger.
There's still affordable land and the opportunity to tap into a strong consumer demand for locally grown food.
Seventeen-year-old Alana Chipman is considering joining her older sister as the eighth generation to run her family farm in Poland, Maine.
"I think of myself trying to work somewhere in a building and I just can't think of it, I love being outside. I've just always worked in the fields and I really enjoy that," she said.
Maine's Commissioner of Agriculture, Forestry and Conservation Walt Whitcomb says it's a trend that makes sense here because the geography makes it possible for farms to get food to people quickly and the state also offers a lot of programs to help beginner farmers.
The region is bucking a national decline in the number of farms. The USDA census showed an increase in the number of farms in every state in New England.
