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1 1 (November 2022)

handle is hein.amenin/aeiaelu0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Key Points e The average age of principal farm operators has increased from 50.3 in 1978 to 59.4 today, raising concerns about challenges preventing young people onm owning and operating farm businesses. a The Inflation Reduction Act itroduced several progrars that would benefit both new and not-ms-new farm owners and operators-farmers wit less than 10 years of experien chat include loan debt forgiveness, insurance fee ex- mpins, Ind other programs ;mended to offset the challenges of acquiring land and other eqiupment. Par oxiay, however, farmland prices are higher, and therefore barrierso entry are larger, because of tne w;de array of feder sies availabe to al: farm.rs, 'hrich increase their revenuses and profits. In my younger days, I was obsessed with the NFL, certain that this obsession would lead me to a career as a starting quarterback in the league. Alas, my physical stature an I abilities were just not strong enough to see this ambition become a real- ity. Further, unlike several programs for new and beginning farmers, there were no government sub- sidies in place that would help me achieve mly ambitions, which from a societal perspective, given my innare physical abilities, was a good thing . Secrevary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack has stated that it is crucial to encourage beginng and new ame nrs to eer farming, using the aging US farm population as a major rationale for such iiti- atives, Crtairy, in the Uited States, farm overs and inaragers are generally older than they used to be, and the average age of farm operators in the US is now approaching 6o years, The US Departnet of Agriculture ( iSDA) agricultural census reported that the average age for a principal farm operator was S0o3 years in '978, 53.3 years in 9, 5:7 years in 2007,58.3 years in 2012, arid now S.4 yearsA But many commenters fail to ask the relevant question, which is why farm owners' and managers' ages have increased, and just assume it is a bad thing. Secretary Vilsack simply argues that encourag- ing young and socially disadvantaged individuals to enter farming will result in a vibrant local and region al food system that is more resilient than the system we had as exposed by the pandemic and improve economic opportunity in rural coinnu- nities and small towns.1 There is no systematic evidence that any of these claims are true, at least with agricultural productivity. Further, the decline of rural populations in many regions has been linked to technical innovations and changing labor market conditions that have reduced the need for farm labor and substantially increased farm size.

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