Next Generation

Agriculture in Marin is approaching a generational turning point. The average California farmer is nearing 60, and nationally fewer than one in ten is under 35. As the generation that built most of the region’s farms and ranches ages here in Marin, a basic question follows: who will work this land over the next twenty years?

That question defines what MALT means by the next generation. The term refers not to an age group but to the people who will farm, ranch, and steward these lands in the decades ahead. Some will take over multi-generation family operations. Some are established producers starting something new. Others are entering agriculture for the first time.

The obstacles they face are largely structural:

• Land access. Land is costly and hard to acquire, especially for those starting out.
• Capital. Launching an operation requires significant upfront investment that most new entrants don’t have.
• Thin reserves. With little financial cushion, a single drought, storm, or fire can end a business.
• Land tenure. Many work on leased rather than owned ground, and without long-term leases it’s hard to invest in or plan around an operation.
• Affordable housing. A shortage of affordable housing makes a local agricultural workforce harder to sustain.
• Knowledge transfer. Much of the skill passes directly from experienced producers, placing added weight on mentorship and apprenticeship.
• Succession planning. Figuring out the right step forward for a property or an operation when there is not a clear succession plan in place.

For MALT, land protection remains the foundation: growing our network of protected lands beyond 59,000 acres, more than half the county’s privately owned farmland. A landscape protected in perpetuity. But protected farmland needs ongoing stewardship—it depends on thriving farms and ranches. Supporting the next generation is what makes that permanence possible.

Meet some of them: