When Kamal Bell used to tell people he was going to be a farmer he would hear a similar response.

“A lot of people used to pick on me for going into farming,” Bell said. “Their favorite thing to say is 'you’re going to be a poor farmer.'”

What You Need To Know

The average debt for surveyed farmers was $35,000

AG Stein and Agriculture Commissioner Troxler sent a letter to U.S. education secretary

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The 30-year-old isn’t poor, but he’s by no means rich.

He started Sankofa Farms in Orange County, North Carolina, a few years ago.

The former teacher, now working on his doctorate, has $72,000 in student debt.

“It’s a lot of money, a lot of money,” Bell said.

The National Young Farmers Coalition said the average debt for farmers it surveyed was $35,000.

Nearly a third say they put farming on hold because of it.

That could pose a problem for an industry quickly getting older.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average age of North Carolina farmers is 58. Eight percent are younger than 35 years old.

“Clock’s ticking…farmers get older and there have got to be replacements standing behind the farmers that are out there now,” said (R) North Carolina Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler.

Troxler and Democrat North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein sent a joint letter in September to U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

They urged him to include small farmers in a loan forgiveness program open to government workers and people who work for a not-for-profit. It wipes away the balance of a loan after 10 years of payments.

Troxler argues farmers also perform a public service.

“What’s more essential than feeding the population of North Carolina, the United States and the world,” Troxler said.

Cardona responded in an interview with Spectrum News 1.

“I appreciate that advocacy and I can tell you right now, we need to fix public service loan forgiveness. The system is not working,” Cardona said. “We're going to be very aggressive about making sure we fix not only public service loan forgiveness, but borrower defense.”

Despite the financial challenges, Bell said he wouldn’t trade farming for anything.

“Money’s cool and everything but it’s more for what we’re doing for people,” Bell said.