[rmason]

If you focus on just age you're not getting the whole picture. The average farm is getting much larger. In your grandfathers time you could raise a family and put kids though college on 160 acres. Nowadays it might take several thousand acres to do the same thing.

Outliers are managing 10-20,000 acres. To do that you need a lot of capital. The large need for capital makes it nearly impossible for an outsider to do a startup. Returns are small and farmers face risk with weather, markets and government intervention into the market.

Small farmers pay more for supplies and are at an extreme disadvantage before putting a single seed in the ground. Exceptions to the rule are niches like organic farming and greenhouses.