Access to farmland likely will become even more difficult in the future as fewer and fewer people own more and more of Iowa farmland.

The Mormon church and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates are among the Iowa's largest landholders.

Despite the backbreaking work, Carly McAndrews loves farming, growing carrots, beets and other vegetables that land on restaurant plates and family dining room tables in eastern Iowa.

She grows 50 different kinds of vegetables on two acres she leases at Johnson County’s Historic Poor Farm in Iowa City.

“There’s always something getting planted,” said McAndrews, who owns Trowel & Error Farm . “And something's getting harvested.”

Even though she’s been farming since she was 19, McAndrews says it’s unlikely she’ll ever be able to buy her own land. Buying two

See Full Page