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If 77 Percent of Young Men Are Unfit to Serve, Who Will Work the Land?

If 77 Percent of Young Men Are Unfit to Serve, Who Will Work the Land?
Members of the Texas National Guard stand guard at an army reserve training facility in Elwood, Ill., on Oct. 7, 2025. Scott Olson/Getty Images
Mollie Engelhart
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Commentary

I was talking with my friend Joel Hollingsworth of Smoke River Ranch. Both of us were standing squarely in the reality of what it now takes to make a living farming in America. We weren’t talking politics or theory. We were talking about labor—real bodies, real endurance, real work—the kind of things you can’t fix with investors, branding, or better spreadsheets.

Mollie Engelhart
Mollie Engelhart
Author
Mollie Engelhart, regenerative farmer and rancher at Sovereignty Ranch, is committed to food sovereignty, soil regeneration, and educating on homesteading and self-sufficiency. She is the author of “Debunked by Nature”: Debunk Everything You Thought You Knew About Food, Farming, and Freedom—a raw, riveting account of her journey from vegan chef and LA restaurateur to hands-in-the-dirt farmer, and how nature shattered her cultural programming.