A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm, by Caitlin Dewey.

Two years ago, the 32-year-old [Liz] Whitehurst — who graduated from a liberal arts college and grew up in the Chicago suburbs — abandoned Washington for this three-acre farm in Upper Marlboro, Md.

She joined a growing movement of highly educated, ex-urban, first-time farmers who are capitalizing on booming consumer demand for local and sustainable foods and who, experts say, could have a broad impact on the food system. …

For only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers under 35 years old is increasing … Sixty-nine percent of the surveyed young farmers had college degrees — significantly higher than the general population.

This new generation can’t hope to replace the numbers that farming is losing to age. But it is already contributing to the growth of the local-food movement and could help preserve the place of midsize farms in the rural landscape. …

Today’s young farmers also tend to operate small farms of less than 50 acres, though that number increases with each successive year of experience. …

Finances can be tight. The women admit they’ve given up higher standards of living to farm. …

There are also hopes that the influx of young farmers could provide some counter to the aging of American agriculture. … The number of young farmers entering the field is nowhere near enough to replace the number exiting, according to the USDA …

The age of the average American farmer has crept toward 60 over several decades, risking the security of midsize family farms where children aren’t interested in succeeding their parents.

Midsize farms are critical to rural economies, generating jobs, spending and tax revenue. And while they’re large enough to supply mainstream markets, they’re also small enough to respond to environmental changes and consumer demand.