BLOOMINGTON – Organic food producers have seen demand increase since the start of the pandemic. There is also a demand for more people to cultivate the land.

But as more and more farmers prepare to retire, it is unclear whether there will be enough farmers to take their place.

Ron Ackerman and his wife Angie grow corn, soybeans, grains and a range of vegetables on a 320-acre farm south of Chenoa in northern McLean County. The farm has been owned by the Ackerman family for almost a century.

Ron Ackerman said he switched to organic production about three decades ago. It was not easy.

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“In the early 1990s, if I had a cell phone, I probably would have called my good friend from Chenoa FS and said, spray these weeds, I can’t take it anymore,†Ackerman recalls.

Ackerman said the switch to organic took a few years to take hold and he has now said it is the only way forward for the good of the environment. There weren’t many organic farmers back then. There are many more now. But many of them, like Ackerman, will be retiring in the years to come.

Many in the industry are concerned about what will happen to this farmland when this happens.

“We are in the midst of the largest generational land transfer in the country,†said Cassidy Dellorto-Blackwell, farmer education program manager at The Land Connection.

The Champaign-based nonprofit is training new farmers across Illinois and advocating for community food systems.

Dellorto-Blackwell said many specialty family farms are at risk as children leave and don’t want to take over – and finding a buyer isn’t always easy.

Dellorto-Blackwell said new farmers looking to enter the business face hurdles. She said that if they don’t have a family connection, acquire land is expensive. The value of agricultural land is increasing. Small, specialty producers do not need and cannot afford the larger tracts of land that most farmers are trying to sell.

There’s the cost of farm equipment, health insurance and many, student loans, Dellorto-Blackwell added.

The Land Connection is raising funds to develop a program to help new farmers acquire land.

Still, Dellorto-Blackwell said many young people are looking to get into farming for a variety of reasons.

“To a certain extent, there is romanticism, it’s a romantic idea of ​​coming home. I guess for a lot of people it’s concern for the environment, climate change, concern for health, â€she said, adding that farmers could also be successful in selling organic produce. She said profit margins were higher and more diversity offered protection against market instability.

Redefining priorities

Katie Bishop and her family own PrairErth near Atlanta in Logan County south of Bloomington-Normal. Bishop said she got into farming because it was her way of making a difference in a way the business world couldn’t.

“I can take this business and create ways for people to get healthy food the way I want, and we can make a difference in people’s lives in this way that I see more than just processing an auto claim,†he said. Bishop said.

She and her husband, Hans, started farming part-time over ten years ago. They now work the land full time and have 15 full time workers during the growing season.

Katie Bishop said business just keeps getting better as more people look for locally grown organic food. She said demand had intensified during the pandemic, noting that COVID-19 had also provided an inflection point for their families. This caused them to reassess their priorities to regain their life beyond agriculture.

“We are moving forward in a post-COVID way where we can spend more time with our families and friends,†Bishop said. “I didn’t realize how much I missed them and wanted to be with them until I couldn’t be anymore.

The bishops aren’t planning to retire anytime soon, but they’re looking back. PrairiErth will no longer sell at the Bloomington Farmers Market in the spring and summer. Katie Bishop said they plan to rely more on what they sell at grocery stores and restaurants and as part of their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. This is where customers can sign up for regular product drives.

Katie Bishop said they don’t yet have a clear succession plan for their retirement. The bishops are having no children and Katie Bishop has said some of their employees may want to take over the farm. She also said the family might want to make it a nature reserve, but want to make sure that the diversity the bishops have brought to this farmland will benefit future generations.

“What matters is that I just don’t want it put back into the corn and soybean rotation, or I don’t want houses built there,†she said.

Succession planning

Terra Brockman runs several of her family’s organic farms in central Illinois. Brockman said succession planning can’t start too early and needs to be regularly updated.

“It’s something to talk about and think about before the funeral, which seems like the time most people start to think about it,†Brockman said. “Then they put it up for auction and we know how it goes.”

Brockman has said his brother Henry Brockman will likely farm until he takes his last breath. Terra Brockman said concerns about climate change in recent years had reinvigorated him. He tried to make his farmland in the Mackinaw Valley in County Woodford more resilient to floods and other weather events which occurred with increased regularity.

Terra Brockman said she understands why some families are struggling to plan after retirement. She said their farms and businesses were deeply personal.

“There are some real strong ties, usually multigenerational ties, no matter what type of farm we’re talking about. It’s not like you’re selling widgets, â€she says.

Ron Ackerman’s Chenoa Farm will no longer be in the family. Ackerman is 74 and hopes to farm for three more years to celebrate the family farm’s centenary. Ackerman’s three children do not wish to take over the family business.

Ackerman struck a deal with a young farmer, Aaron Hand, to take over the operation of the organic farm.

“This opportunity, if it works, it’s fairer than I found it in my lap,†Hand said.

Hand, 32, from Chenoa, grew up in a farming family. He said he never planned to get into farming until he studied nutrition and how the Western diet of highly processed foods was unhealthy.

He said he was looking to acquire more farmland and eventually add livestock to his farm, but planned to stay relatively small and organic. He said he would like to see more organic farms in central Illinois, but he understands it’s not for everyone.

Hand said there was plenty of farmland for organic and conventional farmers to feed the world.

“There can be a lot of animosity between organic and conventional farmers and everyone thinks the other side is their enemy,†Hand said.

But Ron Ackerman is more adamant that small organic farms stay that way. Ackerman said he was afraid they would end up having swallowed up by the biggest agricultural companies who are more interested in mass production of animal feed than human food. Ackerman said the quality of the food we eat will suffer.

“We are pushing farmers to produce more with fewer inputs and faster,†Ackerman said. “There is only so far you can shut off that window and have the same amount of nutrition.”

Ackerman said he was happy to see wind turbines being part of the green energy movement around his farm. He said he wanted farm businesses to think of more than green in their portfolios.

The Organic Produce Network reports that organic food sales increased 14% in 2020. This exceeded the increase in sales of conventional products.