As Justin Taubenheim combined soybeans in a Buffalo County field on an October afternoon, he thought about why he does it.

"I'm not farming to get rich,” he said. “I'm farming to maintain a legacy, a way of life. Faith, family and farming, in that order. The farm is kinda like the icing on the cake."

Taubenheim, 31, sports fewer gray hairs than your normal Nebraska farmer.

The average age of a principal Nebraska farm or ranch operator: 56.4 years old, according to census figures.

The rising worry: There won’t be a next generation to carry on family farms – even in an era where la...