U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, introduced legislation aimed at student loan debt relief for young farmers on Thursday.

Courtney, along with Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Glenn Thompson, introduced the Young Farmers Success Act on Thursday that would make young farmers eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.

The program currently applies to military service members, Peace Corps volunteers, teachers, social workers and other professions. Courtney introduced a bill earlier this month that would make the updated and expanded PSLF program, passed into law in 2007, a permanent fixture rather than being decided upon at the whims of presidents and secretaries of education.

The new bill also would halve payments needed to qualify for PSLF loan forgiveness from 120 over 10 years to 60 over five years, and would “Clarify eligibility of active-duty military and Peace Corps volunteers whose loans were in deferment during their service tenure,” expanding the program, according to his office.

The Young Farmer Success Act is co-sponsored by Connecticut U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, D-5th District, along with five other legislators. It is meant to incentivize young people to become farmers, as fewer young people have been going into agriculture and the average age of farmers nationwide continues to increase.

The argument for Courtney and other supporters of the bill is that farmers should be included in the PSLF program because their work is vital for the country’s food supply. Under the proposal, their student loan balance would be forgiven after 10 years of income-based payments.

“This bill recognizes agriculture as public service,” Hayes said Thursday. “There are many other fields where public service qualifies you for loan forgiveness.”

The bill requires farms to earn at least $35,000 to qualify to preclude hobby farmers, and the recipient must be actively farming or ranching to be eligible, they cannot just belong to a family that does such work.

Courtney hosted a virtual news conference Thursday afternoon to promote the bill. Hayes, Connecticut Agriculture Commissioner Bryan Hurlburt, CT Farm Bureau Association President Paul Larson, Cloverleigh Farms Founder Susan Mitchell and University of Connecticut agriculture professor Bonnie Burr joined Courtney.

“What this bill does is it includes farmers, which is defined in federal law as people who are actually producing farm product, not big business farmers, and also as a minimum threshold in terms of farm activity, so it’s not just people growing tomatoes in their backyard,” Courtney said during the news conference.

Mitchell said she felt the legislation would help alleviate one of the main barriers to entry for younger and beginning farmers.

“As a beginning farmer myself, I have a lot of friends in agriculture who have very significant student loan debt,” Mitchell said. “While that might not stop you from starting to work on a farm, it could hinder your ability ... to be a full-time working farmer.”

With the expanded waiver program expiring in October, Courtney said he expects movement on the young farmers bill and on the bill codifying the PSLF program.

s.spinella@theday.com