This farmer profile was written by Niman Ranch partners Food Tank, Bringing Youth Back to Farm in Rural America. Food Tank is a research and advocacy nonprofit organization devoted to storytelling that highlights how food and agriculture can be the solution to some of our most pressing environmental and social problems.
Iowa is the number-one pork producer in the United States, but it has relatively few hog farms. Large factory farm facilities have replaced smaller family farms. The state lost nearly 90 percent of its hog farms from 1982 to 2017, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Census data. And now many young people lack the resources and education to pursue a career as a hog farmer.
“Even though we live in rural Iowa, kids don’t have access,” says Melissa Beermann, Monona County Director for Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. “Everybody assumes that it’s just farm country, but most kids live in town or if they do live rural, they don’t own property. There are not a lot of hog farmers…But there are kids that want to be handling livestock.”
Beermann created The Breakfast Club, a program allowing youth to learn how to raise hogs at Iowa State University’s Western Research and Demonstration Farm. The Breakfast Club is free of charge, making it accessible to underserved youth who don’t necessarily come from a farming family. And it helps first-generation farmers pursue a career in agriculture.
“Our county is a pretty high-poverty county. Forty percent of kids probably are not going to be able to participate in our program unless we do something to help,” says Beermann. “So, I went way outside of the box.”
Often families will purchase livestock for these types of programs using interest-free youth loans. But when she was setting up The Breakfast Club, Beermann knew that the participants could lose money selling their hogs in the conventional hog market, and the families would not be able to make up the difference.
Instead, Beermann fundraised to buy 40 pigs for the program. She since partnered with Niman Ranch, which is a network of more than 600 small and mid-size farmers and ranchers across the U.S. Niman Ranch provides the participants with a guaranteed market for their hogs in exchange for upholding high standards of sustainable and humane farming practices. The program now averages 150 pigs and 30 participants a year.
“Niman Ranch is a perfect fit for our kids, because they’re not kids that grew up on a family farm…They don’t have US$3 million to go buy a couple of hundred acres,” says Beermann. “To me, Niman Ranch is a way they can afford five acres of property and they could actually raise livestock, they could have a small business.”
The program participants, from 4th to 12th-grade students, begin a chore rotation and hands-on educational sessions starting in March each year. They learn about animal welfare and biosecurity in addition to checking feeders and water, inspecting the animals, and managing manure. If a participant can’t make it to their shift, they are expected to find coverage.
“We’re trying to prepare them for the real world,” says Beermann. “If they don’t show up for a shift…who’s going to take care of the animals?”
The program has become popular among youth looking for hands-on agriculture experience. According to Beermann, students will often drop out of 4-H—a USDA youth development program—in middle school, as sports and other extracurricular activities pick up. But The Breakfast Club has had more middle and high schoolers joining than any other age category, and girls are especially interested.
“We actually reach majority girls…It’s unusual because agriculture is generally white males and an aging population, too,” says Beermann. “Minority folks, in general, have less access.”
Beermann expanded The Breakfast Club program to serve neighboring counties, which have a large number of minority youth and lack animal science education programs. She works to secure grant funding so the department can provide transportation for participants, who often live a half-hour drive from the farm. And by raising pigs that they in turn sell to Niman Ranch, participants can also access Niman Ranch Next Generation Foundation scholarships to support their college education.
Beermann hopes other counties in Iowa can use The Breakfast Club’s success as a model for their own youth education programs. She is inspired by young people across the state who are interested in raising livestock.
“Everybody looks at 12th grade and under, like, ‘they’re just on computers all the time, that’s all they care about.’ It’s not all they care about,” says Beermann. “They want to come out to the farm. They want to work hard, they want to sweat, and they want to know where the food comes from.”
