Changing Demographics: Impacts on Delivering Technical and Financial Assistance at the Field Level It’s the Water Workshop Hannibal, MO September 15, 2005 Michael Duffy Iowa State University

Outline  Changing farm demographics  Changing farm land owner demographics  Implications  Questions and discussion

Implications  There is a very clear dichotomy with respect to farmers; there is a disappearing middle and they control most of the land at this time  Society will need to decide where to put scarce dollars and time  Part time farmers receive information differently and have different needs

Implications  We can expect more rented acres, mostly using cash rents  We can expect to see more land owned by non-farmers and those who do not live in the area  There will be a significant change in land ownership over the next decade; most of the land will not enter the market but stay within the family

Thank you!