What's a "City Farmer?"

Recently I used the term "city farmer" and found that others didn't understand the concept or found it confusing.  So I'll explain what it means to me.

"City Farmers" are families who live in a small town and work full time on a farm that totally supports them. The term is merely descriptive and has no further good or bad meaning. Usually someone else lives on the farm to watch the property, animals, and crops 24/7, such as a relative, farm hand, farm renter or outside renter.

My great-grandfather was a homesteader in Nebraska in 1867.  The land was passed through generations until 2009. The "home place" was 300 acres and four different houses were present over the years.  My grandfather and my father were among those born on the farm.

In the 1920s my grandparents decided to move to the nearby small town (2500 people) and continue farming, thus becoming "city farmers."  The small town was hardly a "city" and they were truly farmers. The next time I'm with some of my cousins,  I'll ask them what factors they thought entered into this milestone decisions.  Clearly, though, everyone was very happy with the decision.

The farmhouse on our place was occupied by a hired farmer who worked for the family.  We had a number of reliable families on the farm for quite some time.  The original house was replaced with a more modern one, and other improvements over the years.  So someone was living on the property all the time.

My dad in 1982.

For many families, living in town meant better schools for the children and convenience for other family activities.  But there were lots of other factors as well.

In the end, people made their own decisions for various reasons.  My dad and 3 of his brothers were career farmers.  In time, they each bought land of their own  and continued working parts of the family acreage as well.  My dad and one of his brothers chose to live in town while two brothers lived on their own farms.