Nathan Clark paused, head hanging out the window of his big Chevy truck, peering with a grin at the cattle clustered under the trees in a pasture of his Marion County property, Green Gate Farms.
“I’ve never called them with anyone else watching me in the truck,” he said with a laugh, and then he hesitatingly called the cows over, so we could see them and take some photos. “OK, here they come. But they’re going to wonder what the camera is doing.”
We got the photos and bounced back down the rough road through the field to the breezy front porch of his farmhouse, once owned by Clark’s late grandparents.
Clark, 22, a third-generation farmer, discussed the various trends and challenges of farming in 2026. It’s a topic with which he is familiar despite his young age. He worked the farm alongside his late grandpa and late father since he was just a tot, and in 2025, he was named a finalist for the National FFA Organization’s American Star Farmer.
Clark’s Green Gate Farms entails 180 acres that he runs, and, in total, he farms close to 600 acres, including rented land. He owns approximately 165 cows. And he runs family land with his two sisters. He hopes to expand his acreage before long.
“Most of the people who are still farming are in the big operations, and they’re taking up all the ground from the smaller guys like myself,” Clark said, noting that many children of farmers opt to sell the land they inherit for a steep profit. “Farming is hard work, and a lot of people now don’t want to do hard work … [These facts] do play tricks in your mind a little bit because most of the [people] farming now don’t have kids, or their kids see the land is worth a million dollars and they will sell it. Huge farms will buy it, and it’ll cut us little guys out.”
He said the bourbon industry buys up land in the area, “so it’s made the ground market around here insane.”
The options for someone like Clark? Sell land and work for one of the massive corporate farmers, or farm on a small scale and have a day job somewhere else. His father was a schoolteacher, and his grandfather was a pastor.
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While living and going to school in Lexington, Clark was busy learning and setting up the farm’s future alongside his father, who died unexpectedly when Clark was just 13 years old. His grandfather passed when he was 16, followed by his grandmother when he was 20, leaving Clark to run the family farm on his own before most of his peers had even declared a college major.
“I always grew up wanting to be a farmer,” he said. “And when my dad passed away, and then my grandpa passed away, the realization kind of came that I’ve got an actual shot at being a full-time farmer just because of the circumstances. It was probably late middle school or early high school when I realized it fully as a legitimate possibility.
“It wasn’t until my senior year that my mom finally came to the realization that I wasn’t going to college, and I was going to be a farmer. At that point, she had realized the work I had put into it and that I was taking it really seriously and was determined to turn a profit.”
Clark spent his youth learning from the best in the business in the FFA system while attending Locust Trace AgriScience Center for high school—a foundation that prepared him well on the agriculture and business sides of farming.
Clark has implemented new practices on the family farm while dealing with the pressure that comes with the trade—such as making payments on a tractor, the unpredictability of weather and price structures that are out of his control—and worrying over his valuable “merchandise” that’s out “standing in the field.”
“On top of that, you’re working alone, and it’s not an 8-to-5 job,” Clark said. “Last night, I was out until almost midnight. You get paid for it, but you can’t keep track of your hours. But I really enjoy what I do. I think that is the biggest thing. There is a tight-knit network of farmers around here, and we’re all fairly close.”
There are a few young farmer peers with whom he bounces ideas, and though he’s learned from the “older guys,” he’s also trying new things.
“Agriculture has really changed in the past 20 years, and there’re a lot of [people] who are still in the older phase of ‘Well, it’s always worked,’ so they don’t need to change it,” Clark said. He is interested in alternative practices that will generate higher yields because they are better for the land, such as rotational grazing.
“It’s really healthy for the soil; you have much better yield on the fields, and the cows are in a better body score and condition,” he said, noting that sustainable practices feel intimidating to longtime farmers because they are new to them and cost money. For him, it’s paid off. When spring brought drought conditions, his fields fared much better than others because of his rotational grazing practices.
Clark pays attention to things like the opposition to the herbicide glyphosate and other controversies. He said that farms are not going to overuse pesticides or herbicides because they are too expensive.
“Yes, there is some overspray, but we aren’t the issue, because the chemicals are expensive,” he said. “The people spraying their yards are the problem.”
If Clark were to go totally organic and non-GMO on his farm—which is not his plan—he said the prices of his meat would “go insane.”
Rotational grazing helps combat the overuse of some agricultural-related chemicals that consumers are trying to avoid.
“I haven’t put any fertilizer on cattle pastures in probably five years, because I don’t have to,” Clark said, noting the fields that his cows haven’t grazed need significantly more fertilizer to yield a strong crop. “My grandparents didn’t want to do rotational grazing. When my grandpa died, I started farming with my grandma and bought her out when I was in high school. I showed her new business plans and actual profits and losses on that and how doing this can benefit and create higher income.”
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Clark is disappointed he didn’t have more time to farm with his father.
“I think my grandpa would be proud of what I turned it into, and I don’t know that he realized what it could turn into,” Clark said. “And my dad—it was always our dream to farm together. We always said, ‘I’ll buy the truck, you buy the trailer,’ and I think he’d be really proud of what I’ve gotten to do.”
Clark hopes to grow the farm just a bit more—to buy more land and increase his herd. For now, Clark works with one part-time employee.
“Everything takes time, and I realize that, but I’m trying to go as quick as I can,” he said, noting that prices can make it difficult. Beef prices are high right now.
Clark is carving out a market for his beef, working with local stockyards and selling in Whole Foods under the Lancaster-based Marksbury Farm label. He does other “finishing” work on his farm and some breeding. He has a mixture of Hereford, Black Angus, Red Angus and some crosses, ultimately aiming for the best overall cows for his land that will be healthy, cost efficient and desirable for the market.
His beef is all grass-fed and antibiotic free—“all the fancy labels,” he joked.
Back to the truck: Clark’s call worked, and I admired the lush green grass swirling around the curious cows’ legs in the breezy field.
“I love the freedom, flexibility, gratification and the overall lifestyle of farming,” he said. “There is nothing I enjoy more than checking cows in the morning or cutting a field of hay.”
When Nathan Clark was named a National FFA Organization American Star Farmer finalist in 2025, it was a reflection of years of work and ingenuity at a young age.
“When they told me I was a finalist, I was very excited. I never thought I’d make it that far,” he said. “We’ve only had a small handful from Kentucky as long as FFA has been a thing, so that was pretty cool that I was one of them. It was really awesome being recognized on a national stage.”
Clark praised FFA for helping him get as far as he has in farming at such a young age, get out of his comfort zone, and grow as a person.
The annual award is one of four American Star awards presented at the National FFA Convention & Expo—Star Farmer, Star in Agriscience, Star in Agricultural Placement and Star in Agribusiness.
An FFA required activity allows students to learn by doing—owning or operating an agricultural business, working or serving an internship at an agriculture-based business, or conducting an agriculture-based scientific experiment and reporting results.
In his selection video, Clark aid, “I hope to make an impact, so people see farming’s not about tearing the ground up and spending money, but it’s about maintaining the ground and taking care of animals.”