Eye on America Features Beginner Farmer Program

Newswise — On August 1, CBS Evening News aired a segment on the Rutgers Beginner Farmer Training Program “RU Ready to Farm” as an installment of its program “Eye on America,” available to watch here.

The segment aired nationally and featured Christina Couch, who first joined the RU Ready to Farm program in 2021. Through admirable hard work and dedication, she has since launched her own farm business, Pura Farms. Couch represents one of many beginner farmers who are taking their first steps into the world of farming.

An exciting and rewarding yet incredibly difficult field as Couch described it, agriculture, the program showed, is a vital industry to maintain. As the average age of farmers continues to increase, now at 57.5 years old, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the importance of training the next generation of farmers is paramount.

Speaking on this issue in the CBS news segment, RU Ready to Farm program director Bill Hlubik said: “It is a crisis in the sense of, we do have to have a next generation. We absolutely have to have a next generation of farmers to produce food for us.”

One of the first steps in supporting beginner farmers is to raise awareness of this issue, according to Hlubik.

The national attention from the CBS news feature has generated an encouraging influx of interest in the RU Ready to Farm Program, with over 100 people already on the waitlist for the next course opening in April 2025.

As the future of agriculture, beginner farmers need to be supported, trained, and protected, university officials said. With generous funding from a USDA-NIFA BFRDP grant, the RU Ready to Farm program is fully committed to this task and seeks to encourage and empower beginner farmers as they launch into the world of agriculture.

More information on the Rutgers Beginner Farmer Training Program can be found here.