“How ‘Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm? (After They’ve Seen Paree)” – song by Joe Young and Sam M. Lewis, 1918. For uncounted generations, the nearly inexorable trend has been for population to move towards cities. Young people, in particular, pick up stakes and seek adventure, employment, and escape away from the farm […]

“How ‘Ya Gonna Keep ‘Em Down on the Farm? (After They’ve Seen Paree)” – song by Joe Young and Sam M. Lewis, 1918.

For uncounted generations, the nearly inexorable trend has been for population to move towards cities. Young people, in particular, pick up stakes and seek adventure, employment, and escape away from the farm and in the city. In 2008, for the first time in human history, the UN announced that more people live in urban areas than rural.

Percent of the population that is urban:

As a rule, the more developed a country becomes, the more urban. The reasons for this are many. Pushing people is the “release” of labor from agriculture through consolidation, mechanization, and increased productivity. Pulling people is economic opportunity, better and more diverse services, and improved quality of life.

In many countries—including the US—farming communities are aging and depopulating; and rural communities have been closing schools and worrying about maintaining services. This is true in developed countries, but increasingly in developing countries as well.

Now, I don’t want to make too much of it, but I do think there’s something very interesting in a sub-current that is now making it’s way into mainstream view: the return to agriculture by young people. The reason that I don’t want to make too much of it is that I don’t think it’s actually demographically significant, nor likely to be a major historical trend. But still….

I had been noticing that younger friends of mine—and interns around the office—were spending their days off working on farms. Or, if not farms, then volunteering at weekend farmers markets. At first this seemed silly to me—like some kind of fad, or a strange dating strategy. But, after several years, it now seems like a legitimate micro-trend. Kids today may not have a Vietnam War to protest, but in some numbers, they are seriously committed to getting their hands dirty in farm work. In the last year, I’ve heard of three Oxfam staff leaving their jobs in favor of farming.

These are not people making choices out of economic necessity. Nor for lack of ambition. Nor with limited career horizons. And usually, it’s not farming per se, that is drawing them. It’s organic farming. Or other sorts of ideological and conceptual motivations that contribute to the vision.

I think this is really interesting, and I have some vague ideas on what’s going on. Truth be told, I don’t really understand it. But something’s going on….