I am a first-generation dairy farmer, and I am so glad to see that you put out the article, “Lack of land pushes young farmers out of ag” on October 6, 2022. I have said before, how can someone like me compete with money from town or farms run by the same people for three or more generations?

I worked for a farmer for a long time before I was finally able to tend a small dairy for seven years until I could buy a farm and build a barn, a process there is no help with. I was told by someone from the USDA that they would help me fix my mistakes but not try to help me do it right the first time. The farmer I worked for said he thinks things are no different from the 1970s, but back then, he paid $300 an acre. Now it’s $3,000. A tractor was $8,000 and now it is $80,000; the list goes on and on. We know what milk price and feed costs are compared to the 1970s. How long can we make it with these margins?