By John Slegers (Radio Iowa)

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig says he noticed two surprises in the latest Census of Agriculture, as he says it’s always interesting to see where Iowa bucks the national trends.

“More farms was one of those,” Naig says. “Really, only a handful of states that had more farms than the last census. The average age of an Iowa farmer did go up slightly, but it didn’t go up as high as the national average, and we did have an increase in young farmers, farmers under 35.”

Naig says several factors may be behind these emerging agricultural trends for the state.

“This is about opportunities for the next generation of farmers to come into agriculture,” he says. “Livestock is often a way to do that, but we also launched Choose Iowa this year, a branded program for Iowa-grown, Iowa-made, Iowa-raised products. We’re also seeing some of our younger farmers get into diversified agriculture, selling things direct to consumers.”

While he’s pleased by elements of the survey, Naig says a host of obstacles are still in place for farmers who are just starting out.

“It also remains very difficult for our young farmers to get access to the land that they need, the capital that they need,” Naig says. “It’s encouraging, but we know that there’s a lot of work to do.”

Naig says the ag census shows there is generational change underway on Iowa’s farms.

“As farmers get older in Iowa, there’s going to have to be a transfer to the next generation. I think the numbers also indicate that that transfer is occurring,” Naig says. “So it’s something that again, what are the various ways that we can assist with that transfer and again, give our youngest farmers a chance to be successful.”

The 2022 Census of Agriculture shows Iowa gained 800 farms, about one-percent more than the 2017 Ag Census, and the number of farmers under the age of 35 is ten-percent of the total.