Young Farmer Success Act

What it does

If Congress passes it, the Young Farmer Success Act would make certain farmers or ranchers eligible for student loan forgiveness under the existing Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. Under the PSLF program, the Department of Education must cancel the balance of interest and principal due on a borrower's Federal Direct Loans after the borrower makes 120 monthly loan payments while employed in a public service job. This bill broadens the definition of public service job to include a full-time job engaged in farm work as an employee or manager of a qualified farm or ranch.

Who supports this bill?

The Young Farmer Success Act is a bipartisan bill, which means that it has some support among both Republicans and Democrats. Representatives Glenn Thompson, Joe Courtney, Monica De La Cruz and Nikki Budzinski introduced this bill. In the House, this bill is referred to as H.R.2728 and these Representatives are already supporting the bill. This bill has not yet been introduced in the Senate.

The bill is endorsed by the National Young Farmers Coalition.

Want to support this bill?

If your Senators and House Representative aren’t already on the list of cosponsors for the bill:

• Ask your two Senators to “support a companion bill to the House’s Young Farmer Success Act, H.R.2728.”
• Ask your House Representative to “cosponsor the Young Farmer Success Act, H.R.2728.”

If your elected officials are already supporting the Young Farmer Success Act, you can always contact them to thank them and help spread the word among your networks.

Resources

If you’d like to learn more about the Young Farmer Success Act, you can:

• Find instructions for calling or writing your Representative (tip: enter your address)
• Track the bill’s progress on Congress.gov or GovTrack
• Learn why lawmakers’ support this bill (Representative Glenn Thompson’s press release)
• Read the full bill text

See more bills worthy of your support in the 2023 Farm Bill.