Health Insurance Woes Add Another Challenge To The Risky Business Of Farming
Taylor Hutchinson of Footprint Farm says having subsidized health care costs has been critical to being able to start the farm with her partner, Jake Mendell. Photo by Kathleen Masterson for VPR
There are many challenges to farming for a living: It’s often grueling work that relies on unpredictable factors such as weather and global market prices. But one aspect that’s often ignored is the cost of health care.
A University of Vermont researcher found that nationally, most farmers cited health care costs as a top concern.
Shoshanah Inwood is a rural sociologist at UVM. She has been studying the aging and shrinking farm population, and what components are needed to build a prosperous farm economy.