Bill to incentive college graduates to farm

Graduates would get tuition
reimbursement for farming

The average age of a farmer in Wisconsin is now 54 years old.

The number of farmers are slowly dwindling. A bill going through Madison right now hopes to change that.

It’s an incentive plan to get college graduates to go back to the farm. The average student leaves college with $30,000 of student-loan debt.

Under State Rep. Mark Spreitzer’s bill, new farmers that till the soil for five years in Wisconsin would be reimbursed up to $30,000 in college loan debt.

Spreitzer says his goal is nothing short of wanting to rescue the family farm tradition in Wisconsin.

“We’re really seeing a shortage of young farmers who are going to be prepared to take over family farms and keep that strong tradition going in our state,” Spreitzer said.

The plan could boost the number of family farms, says Spreitzer, but also the number of well-educated farmers running them.

“We need farms that can, not just produce food for our residence and the rest of the country,” he said, “but sustain communities and be profitable in the 21^st century.”