Key takeaways • U.S. farm employment has declined steadily since 1969, but the burden is uneven across roughly 2,000 rural counties. • In a meaningful share of rural counties, farm work exceeds 20% of total employment — multiples of the national average. • Program funding and certified-contractor supply often diverge at the county level, producing funded-but-unstaffed risk. • The migrant share of crop workers has collapsed since the 1990s; most labor is now settled.

Today, I run a conservation contracting business that generates $240,000 annually, with 340+ completed government contracts under my belt. This report exists because I needed it five years ago. It's built on real data from 662,674 contractor leads across 15 states, analyzing what actually happens when someone like you—maybe with no ag background, maybe feeling like an outsider—decides to enter this field.