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Young farmers ready to farm despite land access, labor challenges

A survey by National Young Farmers Coalition shows that access to land, student loan debt, farm labor, and health insurance are top concerns for young and beginning farmers.

Lindsey Lusher Shute, the coalition’s executive director and co-founder, says the coalition wants to encourage farmland transition from established farmers to young farmers through the tax code.

Shute says by creating a capital gains exclusion for farm owners who sell to young and beginning farmers more opportunities would be created for the next generation.

“If they’re selling it to another working farmer, they should be incentived through the tax code to do that,” she says.

She says using the tax code provides additional incentives …

“Those experienced farmers are going to be able to have someone to sell their land to, someone to pass that legacy down to so our country will have an adequate and safe and secure food supply,” she says.

Lusher Shute says another way to make farmland more accessible for young farmers is through conservation easements in the Farm Bill.

Audio: Lindsey Lusher Shute, National Young Farmers Coalition