New Legislation an Investment in Agriculture’s Future

A pair of recently introduced bills gives a boost to young people in agriculture by allowing 4-H and FFA students to keep more of the modest income they earn. The students can turn around and put the money toward their education or future agricultural projects.

The Agriculture Students Encourage, Acknowledge, Reward, Nurture (EARN) Act (S. 671) and the Student Agriculture Protection Act (SAPA) (H.R. 1626) would create a tax exemption for the first $5,000 of income students 18 years of age or younger earn from projects completed through 4-H or FFA.

The Farm Bureau-supported measures were introduced by Sens. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas).

“The long-term sustainability of agriculture depends on talented young people pursuing careers in farming and ranching and other agricultural production and food chain professions. Student agricultural projects increase awareness of and foster an interest in fields of study that will provide the next generation of farmers and ranchers, food scientists, agricultural engineers, agronomists, horticulturalists and soil scientists,” American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall said in a letter to Moran, Ernst and McCaul.