Passage 10
New Farmers Need Consumers’ Support
1 If you want to disturb the car industry, you’d better have a few billion dollars: Mom-and-pop carmak春节的传说
ers are unlikely to beat the biggest car companies. 2 But in agriculture, small farmers can get the best of the major players. 3 By connecting directly with customers, and by responding quickly to changes in the markets as well as in the ecosystems, small farmers can keep one step ahead of the big guys. 4 As the co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition and a family farmer mylf, I have a 乱拍
front-row at to the innovations among small farmers that are transforming the industry.
5 For example, take the Quick Cut Greens Harvester, a tool developed just a couple of yea
rs ago by a young farmer, Jonathan Dysinger, in Tenne, with a small loan from a local Slow Money group. 6 It enables small-scale farmers to harvest 175 pounds of green vegetables per hour—a huge improvement over harvesting just a few dozen pounds by hand—suddenly making it possible for the little guys to compete with large farms of California.7 Before the tool came out, small farmers couldn’t touch the price per pound offered by California farms. 8 But now, with the combination of a better price point and a generally fresher product, they can stay in business.
9 The sustainable success of small farmers, though, won’t happen without fundamental changes to the industry. 10 One crucial factor is cure access to land. 11 Competition from investors, developers, and established large farmers makes owning one’s own land unattainable for many new farmers. 12 From 2004 to 2013, agricultural land values doubled, and they continue to ri in many regions.
13 Another challenge for more than a million of the most qualified farm workers and managers is a non-existent path to citizenship—the greatest barrier to building a farm o
f their own. 14 With farmers over the age of 65 outnumbering farmers younger than 35 by six to one, and with two-thirds of the nation’s farmland in need of a new farmer, we must clear the path for talented people willing to grow the nation’s food.
15 There are solutions that could light a path toward a more sustainable and fair farm economy, but farmers can’t clumsily put them together before us. 16 We at the NYFC need broad support as we urge Congress to increa farmland conrvation, as we push for immigration reform, and as we ek policies that will ensure the success of a diver and ambitious next generation of farmers from all backgrounds. 17 With a new farm bill to be debated in Congress, consumers must take a stand with young farmers.
一．单词和短语Words and expressions
get the best of 击败；战胜
keep one step ahead of 领先一步
* co-founder 共同创立者
* coalition /kln/ n. （由两个或两个以上政党组成的）联盟
innovation /nven/ n. 创新；革新
loan /ln/ n. 贷款；借款vt. 借给
sustainable /sstenbl/ adj. 可持续的
established /stblt/ adj. 已设立的; 已制定的; 确定的；著名的；公认的
unattainable /ntenbl/ adj. 无法得到的；难以达到的
non-existent adj. 不存在的
citizenship /stznp/ n. 公民身份；公民资格；国籍；公民权
* outnumber /atnmb/ vt. 数目超过；比…多
clumsily /klmzl/ adv. 笨拙地；粗陋地; 冒犯人地
immigration /mren/ 移居；移民（人数）
congress /kres/ n. 代表大会；议会；国会
push for 奋力争取
take a stand 表态；采取立场
take a stand with 支持
二． 参考译文Translation
新农名需要消费者的支持
1如果你想进军汽车行业，你最好有几十亿美元：夫妻档汽车制造商击败最大的汽车公司的可能性不大。2但在农业领域，小农场主就可以抗衡规模大的竞争对手。3小农场主可以通过直接与客户联系并对市场和生态系统的变化快速做出反应而领先于大巨头们。4作为美国青年农会的联合创始人和一个务农个体户，我可以优先受惠于正在改变这个行业的小农户的创新。
5例如，采用速溶青贮收割机。这是几年前由田纳西州的一位年轻农民乔纳森戴辛格开发的一种工具，由当地的思路信贷集团提供小额贷款。6它使小农每小时能够收割175磅绿色蔬菜——这比每小时只能用手收割几十镑有了很大改善——一下子使得小农们可以与加利福尼亚的大农场竞争。7在该工具问世之前，小农生产的农产品无法触及加州农场的农产品单价。8但现在，因为有了更好的价格点和总体上更新鲜的产品的双重优势，他们可以在商业竞争中幸存下来。
9然而，如果不对该行业进行根本性变革，小农的可持续成功就不会发生。10一个关键因素是要让我们有拥有土地的保障。11来自投资者、开发商和资深大农场主的竞争使得许多新农民无法拥有自己的土地。12从2004年到2013年，农业用地价值翻了一番，并且在许多地区继续上涨。
13最合格的农场工人和管理人员中有超过一百万名面临另一个挑战：无法获得公民身份——这是建立自己的农场的最大障碍。14在 65岁以上的务农人数与35岁以下的务农人数六比一，而全国三分之二的农田需要新农民的情况下，我们必须为那些愿意为这个国家种植粮食的人才扫清道路。
15有那么一些方案可以为实现更加可持续更加公平的农业经济铺平道路，但我们这些小农不可能擅自违反法规，采取措施。16在我们这些NYFC成员敦促国会增加耕地保护、努力争取移民改革、寻求可以确保来自各种背景的多元化的、雄心勃勃的下一代农民成功的政策的时候，我们需要广泛的支持。17在国会即将讨论一套新的农耕法案之际，消费者此时必须站在青年务农者这一边。
