This article originally appeared in the June 27, 2018 edition of the Ames Tribune.

Editor’s note: According to the most recent U.S. Agricultural Census, the average age of an American farmer is 58, and the average age of an Iowa farmer is 57. This is the first of a three-part series looking at the struggle beginning farmers face and their struggle to survive as they try to set down roots in the industry. Read Part 2 and Part 3 of the series.

BOUTON, IOWA — Noah Taylor admits he’s a little crazy.

He’s tall, has a trimmed beard and his shirt is speckled with dirt. He could be working in a climate-controlled laboratory somewhere developing new seeds and making a decent salary.

But Taylor, 24, is back on his family’s farm. He’s a member of the new generation of farmers trying to establish themselves in an industry where profits have been in decline.

“A lot of us are kind of crazy, but I grew up doing it, and I like doing it,” he said, as he drove in a pickup along the gravel roads separating acres of growing corn and soybean plants.

Taylor’s family farms near Bouton, a town of a little over 100 people just south of the Boone-Dallas County line. He’s a fourth-generation farmer, growing up surrounded by homesteads owned by his grandparents and cousins.

Taylor graduated from Northwest Missouri State University with an agronomy degree in the winter of 2016. With that degree, he could find a job working for a local seed producer like Monsanto or Syngenta.

But that’s his backup plan. Instead, he returned to work with his dad on the family farm. He works about 400 acres of corn and soybean fields, and splits a livestock operation of about 100 cattle and 100 hogs with his dad.

It’s a big risk to take financially, particularly in hard economic times for farmers. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, farm profitability nationwide was just over $120 billion in 2013. It’s expected to decline to $59.5 billion at the end of this year if projections are correct.

Dan Taylor, Noah’s dad, is in the middle of his 41st crop season. He’s 58, the same age as the average farmer nationally.

Dan Taylor started his farming career when he rented some land from his grandfather as a high school senior. Since then, he’s bought some more and rented some to get to the hundreds of acres he farms right now.

He’s not planning on retiring anytime soon, partly because he doesn’t want to, partly because that isn’t financially viable.

To him, the rising age of the average farmer and the lack of available land is the most pressing issue facing American agriculture for the next few years, but the industry is directing young people away from the production side.

“We’ve got these smart, young kids that want to get into agriculture and we say, ‘get a job, there’s no room for you in production agriculture. Go try for a job with Monsanto or with Deere or with a co-op,’ and we need that young brain and savvy every bit as much in production agriculture,” the elder Taylor said. “We need these young guys and girls.”

Noah doesn’t find himself saddled with debt like a lot of recent college graduates find themselves in. He graduated debt-free thanks to a football scholarship and support from Niman Ranch, a meat company he and his father raise pork for.

That puts Noah in a slightly better position than other graduates looking to start a farm. He also gets two state tax credits for beginning farmers, although the amount of relief it provides to applicants was halved from $12 million to $6 million this year.

But he still had to borrow a lot to start up his operation. Noah has about $200,000 in loans: $100,000 for operating costs, $50,000 for equipment and another $50,000 to set up a feedlot.

He does his best to keep his operating costs low, but it’s difficult to generate a good cash flow for his farm. His margins are tightening, as are the margins for farmers across the country.

The younger Taylor, like many smaller operations, has a niche to diversify his income sources. He and his dad raise their hogs from birth to slaughter for Niman Ranch, which markets certified humane meats to grocers and restaurants on behalf of small farms.