A future on borrowed land

Across thousands of acres spanning Clark and Fayette counties, Brennan and Serena Gilkison have built a life in the fields. But step onto almost any corner of their farm, and the land underfoot belongs to someone else.

Most of the Gilkisons’ operation is stitched together through leases from about 15 landlords, leaving the family reliant on ground they do not own as land values climb and development reaches farther into the Bluegrass. Their 19-year-old son, Curry, is learning the operation as he considers a future in farming, part of a younger generation Serena said faces growing challenges getting started.

“I want to build another grain system, but I don’t own the land to put it on,” Brennan said. “So I have to put it on [the landlord’s], and it makes it difficult for loans and all that.”

Their farm is a patchwork of different operations — corn, soybeans, tobacco and hay on the crop side, while Serena runs the cattle operation. Around them, the countryside is changing. Nearby, an industrial solar project now occupies land that was once farmed.

“We fought industrial solar here years ago,” Serena said. “Not because we’re against industrial solar, but we’re just against putting it on prime farmland.”

Curry has wanted to farm since childhood. He spends much of his time on the crop side, while also helping with cattle and drone work to spread pesticides. Serena said Brennan was proud when Curry marked a milestone by hauling corn to a local granary in a semi on his own.

“My favorite thing to do is probably working with my dad,” Curry said.

For Serena, growing the cattle operation also means thinking about what might come next.

Serena said focusing more of her time on cattle has become her “midlife crisis of sorts,” as she works to diversify and “hopefully build something up for the next generation, if any of them so choose.”

She worries that fewer young people will have the opportunity to choose farming.

“It would be smart for our government to do more to help young farmers or those who have an interest in it to get started because we’re a dying breed,” she said.

For now, Curry is still learning beside his parents, as the family works to hold together an operation built largely on land belonging to others.