Millennial Migration

I was at a conference this past week in Orlando, Florida.  It had nothing to do with agriculture, actually the discussion was about trends in home buying, but since farming is one of my passions, I view many things through the lens of agriculture. I share with you one of the slides that caught my attention:

Image Credit

Although the above photo that I took with my phone by be unclear, the trend is crystal clear that young people (24-34 year olds) are increasingly attracted to urban living according to census data from 2010. Here's a quote from the source data:

The Takeaway: More Young Adult Urban Growth is Coming
The number of 25- to 34-year-olds—the key group driving urban living—will not decline, but will grow between now and 2024. The urban wave we’ve experienced starting in the 1990s, and accelerating in the past decade, wasn’t propelled by generational growth so much as by a growing preference for urban living by young adults. The shift of young adults to cities, drawn by urban amenities, is increasingly confirmed by academic researchers, and is borne out by the latest Census data.

I really like country living.  I like the slower pace, the simplicity, the elbow room, the wide open spaces.  We live close enough to the city to enjoy shopping, dining, and cultural events, if we wish, but rural living is attractive to us.  To each his own, I guess.

The takeaway that I get from the millennial migration is concerning to me in more ways than one.  I think as more and more young people flock to urban centers, our rural areas are increasingly left vacated by the young as they move off to seek opportunity and adventure.  As this occurs, fewer jobs and opportunity are left in small towns and on family farms.  "Water tower" towns with boarded up Main Street buildings and aging populations and few entertainment venues aren't attractive to the younger generations.  This is not a new occurrence, but Census data shows the frequency of the migration is increasing.  Will the last one leaving town please turn out the lights?

THIS LINK lists some leading factors that pull people to cities and similarly push them out of rural locales:

Pull factors

• more and better jobs
• better hospitals and health care
• better living standards
• cities are social and financial centres
• better education—schools and universities

Push factors

• too many people in the countryside
• low income
• not enough raw materials (water, wood etc..)
• the quality of farming land is getting worse

We are losing our connection to the land.  More and more people are becoming dependent upon fewer and fewer people to grow their food.  Something as simple as a natural disaster that would disrupt our supply chain, could turn urban centers to chaos or societal collapse as grocery store shelves empty.  Food and water shortages in high population density centers with people unable to feed themselves seem to be the theme of many apocalyptic books and movies, but it is not too far-fetched, if you think about it, especially considering the trend discussed above.

What can we do to stem the tide?  How can we maintain the fertile fabric of rural America?  By addressing the issues highlighted in the bullet points.

Support local business in your communities.  That is a starter.  Spend less at the big box store and more at the Mom & Pop shop.

Encourage young people.  Support your local 4-H club and FFA chapter.

Grow your own food OR support your local farmer's market.  Share your garden produce with your neighbor and build close relationships in your very own "Mayberry."

None of these is a magic bullet or miracle cure.  Perhaps nostalgia, or other reasons of necessity will reverse the migration.  Until then, I will remain in my garden as the sun goes down each day, eating crisp banana peppers right off the plant without washing them (gasp!) and breathing in fresh country air and enjoying the simplicity of pastoral living.  I might even drink water straight from the garden hose (Oh, the humanity!).

“An economy genuinely local and neighborly

offers to localities a measure of security

that they cannot derive from a national or a

global economy controlled by people who, by

principle, have no local commitment.”

—WENDELL BERRY