KERSHAW (WACH) -- Cathy Taylor's passion for livestock expanded from selling quarter horses part-time to raising grass-fed beef full-time.

“I got laid off from my job and that is when I started doing more here,” Cathy Taylor says.

On her 200 acre property, Cathy now owns 14 cows and 11 calves.

“I want to get more cattle.  I hope this farm will be able to be self-sustainable.”

Finding her niche in rotational controlled-grazing, Taylor is a part of a growing number of "back-to-the-landers."

"A substantial portion of these famers don't have farming backgrounds,” says Clemson Extension economist Dave Lamie.  “They have learned this kind of on their own as a hobby and scaled up from there.”

Lamie oversees the South Carolina New and Beginning Farmers program, which is funded through a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The goal of the 12-month course is to provide people, like Taylor with the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful.

“Many of them are interested in tying into the local foods movement, which has definitely gotten traction in South Carolina," Lamie says.

The state's agribusiness contributes nearly 200,000 jobs and a $34 billion economic impact each year. 

However, the industry's future could be at stake.  The government estimates half of all current farmers in the U.S. are likely to retire in the next decade.

At 54-years-old, Taylor spends around 40 hours a week tending to her pasture and animals, and adds she is not ready to quit anytime soon.

In fact, most midlife farmers are as eager for a different way of living as their younger counterparts, making this new group of growers an intergenerational one.

Lamie hopes with more outreach opportunities, officials will be able to cultivate a strong farming community.

“I didn't think that when I got laid off my job and started doing this all the time that I would like it as much as I do,” Taylor says.

Although she still has a long way to go before she turns a profit, Taylor knows that good things come to those who wait.