And many, many young people are moving back and have 'discovered' farming, forestry, and gardening. They treat it like they've discovered some long forgotten relic of an ancient past.
We do those things already. The difference is, nobody in their 80's, and nobody struggling with a family farm is making an instagram about it.
Maybe I'm getting old, and maybe I'm getting crotchety. But, if one more 20-30 year old tells me how I should be growing crops and how crop rotation works, without letting me interject that I've been doing this for longer than they've been alive, and have a current, operating partnership with the local University co-op for soil/water/native wildlife conservation projects, I'll scream.
I've lived long enough to understand that young people want new and exciting. I tried to convince my 90+ year old grandfather to invest in hemp farming in the early 90's. I get it. But, again, this is different.
There's a level of arrogance. There's a level of - you're over 45, so you can't possibly understand the internet and what's available. And there is a steadfast refusal to listen to other opinions and ideas, unless they're explicitly endorsed by glam farmers or celebrities on instagram.
I know that all sounds so crotchety and old, but it's the truth. This isn't just 'new is better'. This is 'I am better'. It's different.
The locals are going to resent you no matter what, so maybe just do what you want.
As someone who grew up in one of the kinds of places these people retire to when they're old and gray I have some serious doubts that they are going to do anything other than tell everyone else "you're doing it wrong".