Monday, October 5, 2009

A growing number of Americans are rolling up their sleeves and digging into the dirt to raise crops and livestock on a small scale.

These part-time farmers are called sometimes "hobby" farmers, but Purdue University agriculture professor Maria Marshall says they take their work seriously and produce much of the food found at the nation's farmers' markets and roadside stands.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's most recent farm census shows the number of farms under 50 acres soared nearly 15% between 2002 and 2007 to about 853,000 nationwide. The number of farms under 10 acres grew even faster.

Denise Beno Anderson of Mount Gilead, Ohio, started her 5-acre chicken and vegetable farm in 2003. She says she wanted to get back to her "rural roots."