More retirees adopt farming as a second career

The idea of farming as a second or third career, close to retirement age, may sound surprising, but many people in their 50s are taking it up. According to the President's Council of Economic Advisers' annual report, one-third of beginning farmers are over age 55, indicating that many farmers move into agriculture only after leaving another line of work. The number of farmers 55 and older rose 2.6 percent from 2010 to 2012.

Farmers tend to be older. Those 55 and older account for more than half of the total value of production and own more than half the nation's farmland, and the average age of farmers keeps rising. The average farmer is 57, reports the Stone Barns Center for Food and Alcohol.

Half of all farmers are likely to retire in the next decade, the number of entry-level farmers has fallen by 30 percent since 1987, and new farmers make up only 10 percent of farmers and ranchers, according to the Center for Rural Affairs.

The 2007 Census of Agriculture, the most recent available, reported there were 291,329 farms and ranches with a principal operator who had begun working on the operation since the previous census in 2002. An additional 361,491 principal operators had started operating their present farm within the last 10 years.