A report that Pennsylvania led the nation in the percentage of farmers under the age of 35 came to a surprise to those in Butler County who fit into that category.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2017 Census of Agriculture, 14% of Pennsylvania farmers were 35 or younger that year. Six states, including neighboring Ohio and New York tied for second place with 12%.

The total number of U.S. producers increased 7% to nearly 3.4 million between 2012 and 2017. There was an 11% increase in young producers, compared to a 26% increase in producers 65 years of age and older, and a 2% decrease in producers 35-64 years of age, the census found.

The fact that state led the country in the percentage of young farmers is shocking, said Zach Speer, 26, who, along with his wife Brittany, 27, cochairs the Young Ag Professionals program within the Butler County Farm Bureau and Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.

From talking to young farmers, Speer said he discovered that most leave family farms and return after giving other jobs a try or attending college.

“From what we understand, most young farmers don't come back until they're 35 until they decide what they want to do with their lives,” Speer said.

He said he grew up working at a dairy farm, but he now works the crops at Har-Lo Farms near Saxonburg that is owned by his wife's family.

Speer said he hopes he and his wife take over that farm someday and hopes the children he and Brittany have in the future will follow in their footsteps.

“I would like our kids to grow up the way we did: On the farm,” Speer said.

William Thiele, who is codirector of government relations for the county farm bureau with his twin brother James, also said he was surprised by the USDA report.

“I am surprised. Pleasantly surprised,” said Thiele, 27, who work at his six-generation family dairy farm in Cabot.

He said the average age of farmers in Pennsylvania and the rest of the country is in the late 50s or early 60s.

“Basically, all I hear from the older generation is, nobody wants to do it. But at the same time when I'm around younger people involved in agriculture ... I guess when you really think about it there are quite a bit under the age of 35,” Thiele said.

He said it is difficult for young people to begin a farming career unless they come from a farming family or have enough land for crops or cattle.

“My parents are the proprietors. Me and by brother are employees on paper, but we don't look at that way. It will be handed down to me and my brother,” Thiele said.

Farmland preservation programs, like the county program the Thiele Dairy Farm is enrolled in, that prohibit the use of farmland for anything other than agriculture also play a part in the number of young farmers, he said.