JUDY WOODRUFF: From the inner city, to America's heartland.

It's sunrise across the plains of Kansas... and Cole Carpenter is heading off to work.

COLE CARPENTER: It's a great lifestyle. You're your own boss.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Unlike many Gen Nexters, Cole has known since he was three years old what he wanted to be: a farmer, right here in western Kansas, just outside the tiny town of Leoti. Population: 1440.
 
COLE CARPENTER: I've done everything from working a print shop when I was in college to -- worked at the pharmacy. I've drove truck, so about anything I can do to make any money.

COLE CARPENTER: The only thing that's ever been in my mind is farming.

JUDY WOODRUFF: For Cole, working the land is in his blood.

JUDY WOODRUFF: How many years ago did you come to this land?

DALE APPL, grandfather: Seventy-four years, plus.
 
JUDY WOODRUFF: And how long has this been in your family?

DALE APPL: Oh, since 1890, I think.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Cole's grandfather, Dale Appl, was barely one week old when the family emigrated from Germany, putting down stakes, and planting crops, in this Kansas farm land.

DALE APPL: My grandpa put... and my dad put me on a tractor when I was six to run a track pulling a header.

JUDY WOODRUFF: How old were you when you first got into a tractor, do you think?

COLE CARPENTER: I don't know. (laughter)

DALE APPL: He rode the tractor when he was two years old. We put pillows and blankets in there. And when he'd get sleepy, he'd just lay down on the floor and sleep.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And when did you first drive a tractor?

COLE CARPENTER: I kinda planned on going two years, but I ended up going four-- which I'm very glad I did. But it was always-- I always knew that I would be going to college.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What did you think about his generation and what they should-- whether they should go into farming or not?
 
DALE APPL: I didn't encourage it.
 
JUDY WOODRUFF: Why not?

DALE APPL: But, he-- well, it-- it's just the way things -- been going. See, he's what? Twenty-four. He's 50 years younger than I am, and I told him he ought to have another profession. He could still farm on the side, and he might have to yet.  I don't know if-- you know, it's pretty tough.

COLE CARPENTER: Yeah, farming is a gamble. I mean no matter if you're marketing grain or, you know, putting fertilizer on. I mean, everything you do is a gamble.

All year long you can be just right, and you can have a storm come through during harvest or right before harvest with hail or whatever and wipe it out. So, nothing's a for sure deal till it's in the truck, and-- on its way to town.

JUDY WOODRUFF: The economic challenges hang over Cole as he looks to start a family of his own with his wife, Bridgette.

COLE CARPENTER: She loves the farm. I mean, she grew up on the farm just as I did.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Cole and Bridgette started dating in high school. After graduating from college, Bridgette took a job teaching English at the same junior high school she attended as a teenager.

JUDY WOODRUFF: It is Bridgette's steady paycheck that provides welcome stability against the uncertainty of a farming income.
 
JUDY WOODRUFF: Are you glad he's stayed with the farm?

DALE APPL: Oh, yes. And I hope he can. I hope, I hope he can.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Do you think he can?

DALE APPL: He's going to need a supplement.

Working with family
JUDY WOODRUFF: Cole and Bridgette's desire to stay in one career runs counter to their generation.

Gen Nexters prefer to be more mobile, changing jobs more frequently than previous generations. Half of those surveyed for the Pew workforce study said they were very likely to change careers. It's all part of the overwhelming number of choices available to them.

But, Cole and Bridgette do share some important traits of their generation.

NEIL HOWE, co-author, Millennials Rising: We find that millennials are very attracted to big brand name corporations, obviously, to get a special edge in the global workplace. But also they're attracted to working at home. This is very popular to them: the idea of working with their family, or working around family members.

Bringing technology to the farm
JUDY WOODRUFF: What does he have today that you didn't have at his age, at 24?

DALE APPL: Oh, that darn computer.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Dale Appl may be teaching his grandson about harvesting grain, but Cole's got a few things to show Grandpa when it comes to new technology.

DALE APPL: We have a spraying rig we just bought, automatic steering with-- where you just poke the buttons, and it guides itself through the field. If I play with it long enough, I might get it set. But, I rely on him to set everything with the sprayer and all this stuff.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Did you teach him how to do any of those things?

COLE CARPENTER: Just showed him what buttons to push. Our generation's not scared to press buttons.

JUDY WOODRUFF: How did your grandfather react when you brought those things up?

COLE CARPENTER: He was kinda skeptical at first, but once he got knowing how to do it, he loves it. We've got the calves in the air conditioning, and satellite radios, and cell phones, and –I mean—

JUDY WOODRUFF: -- and you use those things?

COLE CARPENTER: Oh, yeah.

JUDY WOODRUFF: What do you do... listen to the radio?

COLE CARPENTER: Oh, yeah, I have an XM radio, so if i'm in the sprayer or the tractor or my pick-up or—wherever. I mean, it's-- it's with me. It's got like my cell phone, I don't go very far without it.
 
JUDY WOODRUFF: You talk on the cell phone while you're out there?

COLE CARPENTER: Yeah-- yeah. A lot, pretty much all day. Kinda passes the time away.

JUDY WOODRUFF: But good luck calling Cole or his peers on a traditional landline.

Nearly 25 percent of all young adults live in cell phone only households, and are more likely than their elders to use their phones for text messaging, game playing, sending and receiving pictures, and downloading music and videos.

Those who have grown up with this technology like Cole also spend more than 12 hours a week online: 2-and-a-half hours longer than Gen X-ers and nearly twice as long as older baby boomers, logging on to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, and doing everything from e-mailing, to instant messaging, shopping, and surfing for useful information.

COLE CARPENTER: The wheat here in the last couple of weeks has been falling quite a bit...

JUDY WOODRUFF: At home, Cole goes online to keep tabs on the latest grain prices, and gets real time weather updates.

Keeping the farm in the family
JUDY WOODRUFF: Can you imagine yourself not farming?

COLE CARPENTER: Not really.

JUDY WOODRUFF: Would you see yourself working with your children on this farm?

COLE CARPENTER: Hope so. Hope so. I mean, that would be the-- the ultimate-- you know, to be able to bring a family up in the farm, and be able to pass it on down too. So that would be the ultimate.

But we'll have to wait 20 years to see what happens.