Mr. Hull nodded and said: “It’s your heritage and you hate to give it up. I’m stubborn. I don’t like to say uncle.”

In New York, one bright note is that the numbers of young farmers and small farms are growing, as a new generation embraces organic and farm-to-table production and other niche food trends.

The longstanding tradition of aging farmers relying on younger generations to take over the farm, and support them in retirement, is being shaken, said Kacey Deamer with Cornell University’s Small Farms Program, which, along with other groups, is increasingly connecting aging farm owners with nonrelatives looking to farm.

“As people seek different career opportunities and move away from their family farm, relying on children to take over the farm business is not always the answer,” she said.

Each of the Hulls’ four sons grew up working on the farm, but none have wanted to take it over — not even the youngest, Jared, 36, who works on the farm .

Two sons have moved out of state, and the son most likely to take the farm over, Jordon, died in a vehicular accident in 2010. Even while in mourning and arranging for the funeral, the Hulls were still not able to stop the daily work on the farm, Ms. Hull said.

The muddiness of the Hulls’ clay soil has long made farming difficult and has not helped in their efforts to rent their land to other farmers.