The American Farm Bureau released an informal survey of young American farmers and ranchers  (18-35 years old) that shares information about young farmers’ attitudes towards the future of farming. Despite challenges such as the economy, 80 percent of young farmers surveyed say they are more optimistic than they were five years ago, and 96 percent of the respondents say they expect to be life-long farmers or ranchers.

The survey also asked about biotech crop use, and more than half of the young farmers (57 percent) intend to plant biotech crops this year, signaling that young farmers are in favor of agricultural biotechnology. These farmers and ranchers are also concerned about their carbon footprint, and 68 percent of those surveyed say that “balancing environmental and economic concerns is important for their operations.”

Young farmers are also overwhelmingly online, with nearly 99 percent saying they have access to and use the internet. Furthermore, young farmers actively participate in social media- nearly 75 percent of young farmers are members of Facebook, and 10 percent are on Twitter. Twelve percent of these farmers and ranchers said they post YouTube videos.

Sarah Stokes Alexander, Director of Sustainability and Leadership Programs for the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, spoke to farmers and ranchers at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 91st annual meeting, which focused on the state of sustainable agriculture.

The Keystone Alliance aims to find ways to increase agriculture production for the long-term without having negative impacts on the environment, and has developed the “Fieldprint Calculator” so farmers can assess their overall environmental impact in areas of energy use, soils loss, irrigation water use, land use and climate impact.

In the initial phase on the Fieldprint Calculator implementation, they found that farmers “already made significant strides in ‘sustainability’ as it relates to land and water use.”

This demonstrates real progress towards preserving the environment while feeding a growing world and is due, in part, to the wide-spread use of crop technology in the United States.

You can read more about the progress of the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture here.