September 2014 Unretirement FROM PAGE 7


from refugee camps in Thailand. The Laotian Hmong, who fought for the United States in the so-called “secret war” against the North Vietnamese, and the communist Pathet Lao, fled to safety when the Vietnam War ended.


The Hmong have made enormous


progress in education and income since arriving, although most are still employed in low-wage jobs. Most of them have small plots to tend, and community gardens are popular. (Hmong growers are a major presence in St. Paul’s farmers markets, selling baskets of fresh vegetables and flowers.)


Spurred by the Great Recession The Great Recession and its


aftermath hit the Hmong hard. Spurred by job losses, some in their 50s and 60s have turned to farming as a full-time occupation.


A driving force is the St.


Paul-based Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA), a nonprofit group founded and run by Pakou Hang.


At a HAFA graduation ceremony


for 13 who completed its business- development program, several boomer-age farmers said they’d lost their job during the downturn and were now working toward becoming professional farmers.


“It’s about wealth creation. You


need a business plan. You need to think long-term,” says Hang. Adds Chia Youyee Vang, a historian at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. “I think it’s a great idea.”


I met with two encore boomer


farmers at the 155-acre HAFA farm growing vegetables and flowers in Vermillion Township, about 20 minutes from St. Paul. When I was there in late July, the long list of fresh produce included snap peas, cucumbers, green beans, onions, and zucchini.


There was a white clapboard,


seven-bedroom farmhouse under renovation for offices and living space, a couple of used tractors and old vans parked near a barn. Working the fields were 16 farmers, with more signing up.


The Hmong farmers agree to


work five or 10 acres and their lease is for 10 years — both signals that they’re taking the job seriously.


The Hmong supply farmer’s


markets, but they’re so competitive that HAFA is developing alternatives. Among its initiatives is negotiating contracts with large organizations, such as the Minneapolis public schools. “We’re out to take their income to the next level,” said Hang.


Xiong Family’s Small Farm Business One of the farmers I met was


Chong Neng Xiong. On a steamy, hot day, Xiong, his wife and several of their children were preparing green onions for a St. Paul public housing project.


Xiong came to the United States


in his early 30s in 1992, from a refugee camp in Thailand. He trained at Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount, Minn., in woodworking. That training that led to jobs in small wood-manufacturing plants. But the jobs dried up during the downturn.


Although he still picks up some temp work during the winter, Xiong


www.hamptonroadsmessenger.com


is focusing his efforts on developing a small farm business.


Is this his unretirement, I


wondered. “That’s the plan,” he replied. “So long as I have my strength, I will do this farming.”


So will Judy Yang. Now in her


mid-50s, she came to Minnesota at 19, in 1979, and quickly got a job in a printing plant, working her way up to a supervisor. The plant closed in 2008, however. Yang picked up other work, but nothing stable, forcing her to tap her 401(k).


When I walked over to talk to her


after meeting Xiong, she was working her acreage at the farm along with her husband and a son.


Yang expects farming will define


her retirement years, especially since she has learned that her second career offers a side benefit: “I have diabetes and it gets better when I am out on the farm,” she chuckled. “Farming is good for my health.”


Advice for Would-Be Farmers Baby boomers tempted to shift


into farming should bear in mind that farmland isn’t cheap and equipment is expensive. In addition, fledgling farmers face all the challenges any start-up confronts. Like most small business ventures, it takes time before money starts coming in (assuming the enterprise makes it).


“You have three to five years of


really rough sailing before you can get things under control, just as with any business,” warns Slattery, 68, who’s been farming for 15 years.


It’s also a profession where the


job demands a jack-of-all-trades ability.


“When you run a farm, you have


to be plumber, electrician, mechanic and so on,” says former chemist and current organic Farmer David Massey, 74, “You have to be able to think for yourself and fix things because things are always going wrong.”


As with taking on any new, en-


trepreneurial endeavor it pays to gather information and knowledge. Massey recommends finding a mentor or two. You might also attend farm conferences and other educational gatherings and tap into classes at land grant universities.


Member organizations like


HAFA, which pool expertise and resources, have a long history in agriculture and can be extremely useful to the novice.


Most important, after gathering


research and information, prospective farmers need to develop a business plan. For instance, will you rent farmland or own it? How many acres can you realistically support? What markets will you sell into? Farming may be an enjoyable encore career, but it’s first and foremost a business.


My sense is that most of today’s


unretirement experments, like farming, aren’t about just money or meaning. Instead, as Massey and the Hmong farmers demonstrate, they merge income and passion


Chris Farrell, author of the new


book, Unretirement: How Baby Boomers are Changing the Way We Think About Work, Community, and the Good Life, wrote a longer version of this article for the PBS Next Avenue website with support from the MetLife Foundation Journalists in Aging Fellowships, a project of New America Media and the Gerontological Society


The Hampton Roads Messenger 11


of America. Farrell is senior economics contributor for American Public Media's Marketplace.


"Farmer Dave’s" Organic-Farm Tips Is the encore career trend--the idea


of continuing work in later life, but with a sense of purpose--little more than marketing talk masking the ugly reality that most aging boomers can’t afford to retire and need to eke out a living well past 60?


Or is the rethinking of life’s last


stage a welcome shift in expectations, built on embracing engagement, meaning, giving back and, yes, earning an income?


The truth is, for most boomers, in exploring a mix of the desire for meaningful work and the need to pocket a paycheck.


For example, at 74, “Farmer Dave”


Massey, as he likes to be called, picked organic farming — a lifelong passion — for his encore career. Massey. Who worked for 34 years as a chemist for H.B. Fuller, the global adhesive manufacturer, including a year in China, retired in 1998. He turned to organic farming on land he bought early in his career, in northern Minnesota.


“I have been organic since my early


20s,” he says. “It’s a health and belief philosophy.”


Today, Massey farms about eight


acres of fruits and vegetables in northern Minnesota, growing 250 varieties,


Our Faith


“The Danger of Dropping 'Chrystal' Balls” By Rev. Dr. Gregory Headen


There are some things in life that we cannot afford to drop. One example is a crystal ball. If we drop a crystal ball it is almost cer- tain to break. Ev- ery excellent life, church, business,


and organization embraces principles, commitments, and priorities that must not be dropped. To drop them means disaster. Chrystal balls for us means priorities that we will focus on and keep in front of us as a church for the next few years. Since our retreat in January, we have been taking steps to refine and examine our direction. Prayer has been going up constantly, and God has given us an able helper in the person of Pastor Joshua Jones. Your pastor with the agreement of the Leadership Team and other ministry leaders in the church have agreed on some priorities (Chrystal balls). They are Discipleship, Youth and Young Adults, and Outreach/Community Development. Under Discipleship, we are including the essence of wor- ship, holistic stewardship, leadership training, and strengthening relation- ships in the home, church, and com- munity. We have already decided that Youth encompasses ages from the cradle to age 17, and we have de- fined Young Adults as those of ages


18-35. We cannot afford to lose these generations. When we speak of Out- reach/Community Development, we have in mind evangelism in the com- munity aimed at the unchurched, pos- sessing the land, and addressing the needs of the community. The leaders have been reading the book, The Five Star Church, by Stan Toler and Alan Nelson. Our overriding objective is excellence in ministry. The book has inspired us to take a serious look at ourselves and to tell the truth about our church. This process has already begun by addressing the “low hang- ing fruit”. You have seen improve- ments around the church (signage pointing to restrooms, fixing doors, posting progress toward giving goals in a conspicuous place, streamlining announcements, reactivating a per- sonnel ministry that is reviewing job descriptions and setting up evalua- tion procedures as well as a process through which grievances can be han- dled, and much more). The internal surveys have yielded some valuable feedback for us, and we are already using it for the purpose of improve- ment. In our conference next Sunday, I will lay out a little more our direc- tion, and ask the entire congregation to join the leadership on this journey toward excellence in ministry. Re- member, it’s a process, and we are embracing it with faith and determi- nation.


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including 75 kinds of heirloom tomatoes. He lives on the farm Monday through Friday and delivers to local restaurants from his home, 200 miles away, on weekends.


His wife Pamela, a first grade


teacher, just retired and would prefer he didn’t work so hard. He’d like to spend more time mentoring, perhaps turning his farm into an educational resource for everyone from children to aspiring farmers.


“The chief crop I raise is


awareness,” Massey says. “What I really need to do is more teaching.”


Massey isn’t farming in his 70s


for the money. He gets a pension and retirement health care benefits, has an IRA and is debt-free. Anything he makes from the farm gets recycled back into the business.


Research and information is


available online. Here are some sources:


• Cornell University’s


Northeast Beginning Farmers Project •


Cooperative Extension Small Farm Program •


University of California Beginning Farmers •


The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Beginning Farmers and Rancher’s Development Program And visit your local Cooperative Extension System office, a nationwide agricultural education network to learn about additional resources.


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