San Juan County and New Mexico State University (NMSU) are joining forces to buy three acres of land that will be used for training new farmers at the Growing Forward Farm.

Program leaders believe opportunities like this are vital for the next generation of farmers to become excited about farming and take over as the older generation steps down, KOB 4 reported.

Weston Medlock, Northwest New Mexico Farmer Network program coordinator, noted that the average age of a farmer is more than 60 years old, so it is important to have opportunities like the ones presented with the Growing Forward Farm. Medlock said it ensures there will be a new generation of farmers, and added that the country’s food sources depend on new farms.

“Without farmers, you don’t have farms and without farms, you don’t have food,” Medlock told KOB 4.

By learning how to grow produce and work hands-on at a farm, students will be able to develop farming skills and then go off on their own.

Bonnie Hopkins-Byers, San Juan County program director for NMSU, told KOB 4 that she was intent on finding a place for farmers to grow crops. She chose a vacant lot across the street from the extension office in Farmington to create the Growing Forward Farm.

Hopkins-Byers said the project will involve approximately three acres of farmland and a new farmer training program where produce will be sold to schools, daycares, senior centers, and farmers’ markets.

The next step for the Growing Forward Farm is the planting of various types of fruit trees.