A group of a dozen farmers and advocates met with Washington Senator Patty Murray’s State Director, Mindi Linquist (holding the yellow “Farming is Public Service” sign above), for a tour and conversation at Boldbrook Farm in July. We discussed the importance of young and beginning farmers and small-scale, sustainable farms, and how student debt is a barrier to many new farmers.
The event followed the introduction of the Young Farmer Success Act in Congress on June 1, 2015. This bill would add farming to the list of public service careers eligible for student debt forgiveness as part of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
Our hosts, Marni Sorin and Steve Gisel, both carry student debt themselves, which has posed a barrier to their farming operation. Student debt has prevented Marni and Steve from purchasing farmland, limiting the scale and permanence of their operation to what rented land can provide.
Seventy one percent of students who graduated from four-year colleges in 2012 had student loan debt, averaging $29,400 per student. This is a problem for college graduates who aspire to farming careers, which require start-up capital and often mean little in the way of income, especially in early years.
Boldbrook Farm uses sustainable practices to grow vegetables for CSA and market on two acres in Sultan, WA. Steve and Marni shared about their growing practices, including challenges they have faced with this season’s drought.
Young farmers are more likely to use sustainable growing practices than older, more established ones: the average age of organic farmers is five years younger than that of farmers overall, according to the 2012 Census of Agriculture.
Other attendees shared stories about the impacts of student debt on farming. Kate Doughty, a rising senior at the University of Washington, explained the interest in farming she has cultivated volunteering at the campus farm. She would like to pursue farming as a career, but does not see that as an option, due to the debt burden she will face upon graduation next year.
If enacted, this change could mean the difference between dreams of farming and reality for Kate. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program forgives the student debt of full-time public servants after they make ten years of income-adjusted payments. If Kate were able to enroll next year, by the time she reaches Marni and Steve’s age, she would find herself debt-free.
Chelsea and Cody Johansen, neighbors at Rainy Sunday Ranch down the road in Sultan, also have student debt, which means they must work off-farm in order to support their family of five.
A 2011 survey by the National Young Farmers Coalition found that 78% of respondents struggled with a lack of capital, and 73% worked off-farm to supplement their income. Their later survey of more than 700 farmers with student debt found an average debt burden of $35,000.
As the tour concluded, Mindi conveyed Senator Murray’s support for beginning farmers and promised to pass on information about the Young Farmer Success Act and the issue of farmer student debt to her counterparts in Washington, D.C.
Senator Murray is Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. That committee will be reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, where the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program lives, soon. Contact Senator Murray’s office to urge her support for the Young Farmer Success Act and adding farmers to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.