Suddenly, (small-scale) farming is hip everywhere (including the developing world)

An alternate headline might have been:  African millennials follow in the footsteps of their US counterparts (or might it be the other way around?).  In any event, the catalyst for this post is Sarah Maslin Nir's New York Times story, dateline Agotime Beh, Ghana, "Millennials 'Make Farming Sexy' in Africa, Where Tilling the Soil Once Meant Shame."  Here's the lede:

After he graduated from university, Vozbeth Kofi Azumah was reluctant to tell anyone — even his mother — what he planned to do for a living. 

“I’m a farmer,” he said, buzzing his motorcycle between freshly plowed fields on a recent afternoon. “Here, that’s an embarrassment.” 

In some parts of the world, farmers are viewed with respect and cultivating the land is seen as an honorable trade. But in a region where most agriculture is still for subsistence — relying on cutlass, hoe and a hope for rain — farming is a synonym for poverty.

But Mr. Azumah is among a growing number of young, college-educated Africans fighting the stigma by seeking to professionalize farming.

The entire story is well worth a read.  An interesting factoid:  60% of Africa's population is under the age of 24, but the average age of a farmer is 60.  This trend is similar to that in the US, where farmers are a rapidly aging group.  Seems like that might be changing, albeit slowly, on both continents; at least one can hope.