Poll finds farmers optimistic

There appears to be a renewed sense of optimism by young farmers and ranchers in rural Iowa and across the nation. The annual survey by the American Farm Bureau Federation found that 81-percent of young farmers and ranchers are more optimistic about agriculture than they were five years ago. That’s the highest level of optimism since the survey’s inception in 1993. And when asked if they were better off financially than five years ago, 86 percent said yes. Still the young men and women on farms do have concerns, including land availability, profitability, the cost of government relations and getting healthcare. Keeping young people on the farm has been a concern for years and the average farm operator in Iowa is now about 54-years-old.