Never willing to squander an opportunity to make a bad idea worse, Congress is considering student loan forgiveness for young farmers.
Hoping to attract more millennials back to the land, “Congress is considering a bill that would add farmers to the list of occupations that qualify for a federal program that forgives student loans for public service workers, such as teachers and police officers,” Jen Fifield wrote for Stateline.
Farmers would look more like public servants who gain similar college benefits if the bill succeeds.
Roughly 3.2 million farmers till 2.1 million acres in the United States, according to the Department of Agriculture. Between 2007 and 2012, principal farm operators declined by 4.3 percent, a group of farmers who are more likely “to consider farming their primary occupation.”
The average age of farmers has trended upward for decades. In 1982, the average age was 50.5. By 2012, the age reached 58.3. Offer student loan forgiveness, then, and young farmers can get an agricultural education for cheap and build a fresh base for American agriculture. About 2,400 more millennial farmers between 25 to 34 years old turned to farming between 2007 and 2012, though the change wasn’t statistically significant. New farmers working at the same farm for less than five years also declined in the same time period by 23 percent.
New York initiated a loan forgiveness program last year, and Wisconsin is considering similar action.
Student loan forgiveness, however, might not confront the biggest financial problems farmers have, anyway.
“Although forgiving student loans may help some starting farmers, it won’t reach the bulk of them,” Fifield noted.
The startup costs of a farm, machinery, and agricultural land prices pinch farmer wallets tighter than student loans, though farmers who would benefit would welcome the marginal help.
It’s also a question of whether the federal government should provide more subsidies for higher education. Farming subsidies, such as for the ethanol fuel industry in Iowa, distort the market. More millennial farmers would mean cheaper foodstuffs due to an increased supply, but also more competition that could drive other farms out of business that would remain were it not for federal meddling.
It’s unclear why the seniorization of American farming is such a national problem that the federal government needs to lure millennials into the industry. More millennial farmers might do less for the economy than, say, more millennial economists, software engineers, or welders.
