Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience: Audience Emphasis Military veterans Organic producers Small farms Specialty crop producers Traditional commercial producers Participants Served Record the total number of unique participants who participated in your program: Total Number of Participants: 25 Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Delivery Total Meetings: 3 Total Meeting Participants: 68 Total Webinars: 4 Total Webinar Participants: 60 Total Website Visits: 279 Total Online Course Participants: 1073 Meetings 10/22/2019: Red Wing, MN -- Number of Attendees 25 3/29/2020: La Crosse, WI -- Number of Attendees 30 2/6/2020: Fort Collins, CO -- Number of Attendees 13 Webinars 3/10/2021: Number of Attendees 15 3/17/2021: Number of Attendees 15 3/24/2021: Number of Attendees 15 3/31/2021: Number of Attendees 15 How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?This material has been shared with other BFRDP project directors through meetings, webinars, and other promotional materials. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?There were two major components of this project: 1. Course development and re-development and 2. AgTransitions updates. Since the start of the project, we have met as a team to review previous courses and to develop new materials. In the upcoming year, we will be finalizing development of course and train-the-trainer materials and posting those as a resource at Farm Answers. This includes re-developing "Interpreting Financial Statements and Measures" (IFSaM) and developing a piece that will precede IFSaM and focus on how to develop those statements. AgTransitions has been updated to a modern interface, including updated functionality (emailing others from within AgTransitions), as well as updated tips and resources. There was also a financial viability tool developed to accompany AgTransitions and is included in the educational materials of this report. We have re-developed IFSaM which included adding a "Developing Financial Statements & Measures" course which help producers understand how to keep records, what records to keep, what financial statements to develop and how to use them. IFSaM can be found athttps://ifsam.cffm.umn.edu As part of the project, we reviewed and updated farm financial resources in Farm Answers. AgPlan, the online business planning tool created by CFFM, has had over 80,000 business plans created in the site. As part of this project, a course titled "Developing Your Business Plan with AgPlan" to help users understand how to create their business plan in AgPlan. This course can be found at:https://vimeo.com/showcase/8428877 What were the keys to success for your participants? The successful participants of this project are new farmers or ranchers who want to take their farm finances to the next level. This project developed resources to help them understand how to keep records, how to use those records to their advantage, and how to create a business plan or transition plan. Using those tools, beginning farmers are able to understand their finances and then are able to share their farming vision with others. Describe any unexpected results of the project: Stronger relationships with organizations outside of partner organizations have been the unexpected results. Through the financial gaps survey, we have been able to connect with organizations providing similar programming and are working on developing tools with these new partners. As the COVID-19 pandemic began halfway through this project, another unexpected result is the skills developed to deliver virtual education. How would you improve this project if you were to do it again? We have learned many lessons in delivering virtual and online education. For example, developing new ways to engage learners throughout the education has been vital to delivering a well thought out program.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Major goals of the project: Develop and improve delivery of farm financial and business management tools and programs to help beginning farmers and ranchers better understand and manage the financial aspects of their businesses by: Assessing what programs and tools BFRDP programs are currently using and how these resources can be improved. Reviewing other existing financial and business management tools and programs and determining how they can be improved specifically for beginning farmers and ranchers. Identifying gaps in existing tools and programs and developing new tools and programs to meet these gaps. Improving farmer and rancher access to two networks of business planning mentors and educators via linkages to the 13,000 SCORE volunteer business mentors and educators at the 600 community colleges associated with the Rural Community College Alliance. Linking new resources (SCORE volunteer mentors) with existing programs tools so beginning farmers and ranchers can more easily access their expertise. In order to develop and improve delivery of farm financial and business management tools, we identified what training was being delivered, what tools were being used, and where the training needs to be better. The educators who work with Beginning Farmers and Ranchers have direct access and receive questions about the financial portion of their business. Asking this group of educators, along with Extension educators through the United States, allows us to refine our tools in Farm Answers. To accomplish this, we administered a survey to identify gaps in financial management training and identify what tools beginning farmer educators are utilizing in their programming. In total, there were 333 responses to the survey and many tools shared. These results have been shared in this report and the shared tools have been added to FarmAnswers.org, the BFRDP Clearinghouse, for producer consumption. We also delivered training to 13 educators as part of the Rural Community College Alliance. This training delivered farm financial management training and provided networking to educators to improve connections and resources amongst attendees. Improve the ability of organizations to deliver farm financial and business management training to beginning farmers and ranchers. Review farm financial business management needs of beginning farmers and ranchers, and outline what an organized, comprehensive financial management approach would include. Develop sets of complete educational curricula on the farm financial management topics identified in the comprehensive review that can easily be delivered to beginning producers by organizations working with them. Develop train-the-trainer programs to equip organizations to more effectively use farm financial and business management tools, programs, and curriculum. Deliver train-the-trainer programs at the MOSES organic farming conference, at a training session for Rural Community College Alliance educators, and at a national conference organized by this project to focus on helping organizations and educators provide improved farm financial business management to beginning farmers and ranchers. In the financial gaps survey that we administered, we asked about skills of the beginning farmers and ranchers that the educators worked with. What was identified was the need for more training on developing and understanding farm finances. Our team redeveloped Interpreting Financial Statements and Measures along with developed a new course titled "Developing Financial Statements & Measures" to address this gap. This training was developed to be delivered in an online course as well as a course that others could deliver at in-person trainings. We reviewed farm financial resources in FarmAnswers.org and the toolbox selections. Continuously reviewing the resources and the toolbox will enable producers to identify resources that are most useful for their operations. We've delivered current training at the MOSES organic farming conference, and at a training for educators associated with the Rural Community College Alliance. Due to the COVID pandemic, CFFM and MOSES delivered a series of webinars on tools offered to help farm mentors understand what resources were available to them. The Empowered Farm Financials webinar workshop series was offered through a collaboration with the Center for Farm Financial Management out of the University of Minnesota. The series focused on topics and tools developed to help farms of any size manage their financial situation and plan for the future. The tools included farm financial planning, financial analysis, business and transition planning, land rental agreements, and more. All of the webinars are available here: ttps://mosesorganic.org/farming/farm-finance-workshops/ Empowered Farm Financials 1: Business and Transition Planning https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8BMkLDQoQw&t=22s Empowered Farm Financials 2: Taking Charge of Your Finances https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a71XXE7sNc Empowered Farm Financials 3: Negotiating Land Rental Agreements https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvCiLe8RiaI AgPlan, the online business planning tool created by CFFM, has had over 80,000 business plans created in the site. As part of this project, a course titled "Developing Your Business Plan with AgPlan" to help users understand how to create their business plan in AgPlan. This course can be found at: https://vimeo.com/showcase/8428877 Evaluate ways to improve the Farm Answers clearinghouse to make it even more valuable to beginning farmers and ranchers. Solicit input from a broad spectrum of producers and organizations by surveying BFRDP project directors and participants, participants at the MOSES organic farming conference, educators associated with the Rural Community College Alliance, SCORE mentors, and others involved with beginning farmers. Discover gaps in how Farm Answers provides information to beginning farmers and ranchers, the type of information provided, and how Farm Answers allows farmers to access the information and connect with one another. FarmAnswers.org was developed as part of the BFRDP Clearinghouse grant and has over 5,000 resources that have been added to the resource library. There have been thousands of producers who have utilized the site to identify resources most applicable to their operation. We administered a survey to identify usage, tools and to solicit feedback. There were 41 responses and our team has identified gaps, strengths and weaknesses of FarmAnswers from the survey.

Publications

Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20

Outputs
Target Audience: Audience Emphasis Military veterans Organic producers Small farms Specialty crop producers Traditional commercial producers Participants Served Record the total number of unique participants who participated in your program: Total Number of Participants: 186 Enter the actual cumulative number of participants who as a result of your program: Started farming: Target - 0, Actual - 0 Helped prepare to start farming: Target - 0, Actual - 0 Improved farming success: Target - 0, Actual - 0 Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Total Meetings: 3 Total Meeting Participants: 68 Total Webinars: 0 Total Webinar Participants: 0 Total Website Visits: 118 Total Online Course Participants: 0 Meetings 10/22/2019: Red Wing, MN -- Number of Attendees 25 3/29/2020: La Crosse, WI -- Number of Attendees 30 2/6/2020: Fort Collins, CO -- Number of Attendees 13 How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Steps taken to help participants There are two major components of this project: 1. Course development and re-development and 2. AgTransitions updates. Since the start of the project, we have met as a team to review previous courses and to develop new materials. In the upcoming year, we will be finalizing development of course and train-the-trainer materials and posting those as a resource at Farm Answers. This includes re-developing "Interpreting Financial Statements and Measures" (IFSaM) and developing a piece that will precede IFSaM and focus on how to develop those statements. AgTransitions has been updated to a modern interface, including updated functionality (emailing others from within AgTransitions), as well as updated tips and resources. There was also a financial viability tool developed to accompany AgTransitions and is included in the educational materials of this report. In addition, in the coming year, we will be: Updating videos accompanying AgPlan Delivering a training series for the MOSES Organic conference Adding the SCORE find a mentor widget to AgPlan and AgTransitions Reviewing a farm financial and business management toolbox for Farm Answers

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Major goals of the project Develop and improve delivery of farm financial and business management tools and programs to help beginning farmers and ranchers better understand and manage the financial aspects of their businesses by: Assessing what programs and tools BFRDP programs are currently using and how these resources can be improved. Reviewing other existing financial and business management tools and programs and determining how they can be improved specifically for beginning farmers and ranchers. Identifying gaps in existing tools and programs and developing new tools and programs to meet these gaps. Improving farmer and rancher access to two networks of business planning mentors and educators via linkages to the 13,000 SCORE volunteer business mentors and educators at the 600 community colleges associated with the Rural Community College Alliance. Linking new resources (SCORE volunteer mentors) with existing programs tools so beginning farmers and ranchers can more easily access their expertise. In order to develop and improve delivery of farm financial and business management tools, we needed to identify what training was being delivered, what tools were being used, and where the training needs to be better. The educators who work with Beginning Farmers and Ranchers have direct access and receive questions about the financial portion of their business. Asking this group of educators, along with Extension educators through the United States, allows us to refine our tools in Farm Answers. To accomplish this, we administered a survey to identify gaps in financial management training and identify what tools beginning farmer educators are utilizing in their programming. In total, there were 333 responses to the survey and many tools shared. These results have been shared in this report and the shared tools are being added to FarmAnswers.org, the BFRDP Clearinghouse, for producer consumption. We also delivered training to 13 educators as part of the Rural Community College Alliance. This training delivered farm financial management training and provided networking to educators to improve connections and resources amongst attendees. Improve the ability of organizations to deliver farm financial and business management training to beginning farmers and ranchers. Review farm financial business management needs of beginning farmers and ranchers, and outline what an organized, comprehensive financial management approach would include. Develop sets of complete educational curricula on the farm financial management topics identified in the comprehensive review that can easily be delivered to beginning producers by organizations working with them. Develop train-the-trainer programs to equip organizations to more effectively use farm financial and business management tools, programs, and curriculum. Deliver train-the-trainer programs at the MOSES organic farming conference, at a training session for Rural Community College Alliance educators, and at a national conference organized by this project to focus on helping organizations and educators provide improved farm financial business management to beginning farmers and ranchers. In the financial gaps survey that we administered, we asked about skills of the beginning farmers and ranchers that the educators worked with. What was identified was the need for more training on developing and understanding farm finances. Our team is now in the final stages of developing training to address this gap. This training is being developed to be delivered in an online course as well as a course that others could deliver at in-person trainings. We are also reviewing farm financial resources in FarmAnswers.org and reviewing the toolbox selections. Reviewing the resources and the toolbox will enable producers to identify resources that are most useful for their operations. We've delivered current training at the MOSES organic farming conference, and at a training for educators associated with the Rural Community College Alliance. Evaluate ways to improve the Farm Answers clearinghouse to make it even more valuable to beginning farmers and ranchers. Solicit input from a broad spectrum of producers and organizations by surveying BFRDP project directors and participants, participants at the MOSES organic farming conference, educators associated with the Rural Community College Alliance, SCORE mentors, and others involved with beginning farmers. Discover gaps in how Farm Answers provides information to beginning farmers and ranchers, the type of information provided, and how Farm Answers allows farmers to access the information and connect with one another. FarmAnswers.org was developed as part of the BFRDP Clearinghouse grant and has over 5,000 resources that have been added to the resource library. There have been thousands of producers who have utilized the site to identify resources most applicable to their operation. We administered a survey to identify usage, tools and to solicit feedback. There were 41 responses and our team has identified gaps, strengths and weaknesses of FarmAnswers from the survey.

Publications

Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19

Outputs
Target Audience: Audience Emphasis Military veterans Organic producers Small farms Specialty crop producers Traditional commercial producers Participants Served Record the total number of unique participants who participated in your program: Total Number of Participants: 25 Enter the actual cumulative number of participants who as a result of your program: Started farming: Target - 0, Actual - 0 Helped prepare to start farming: Target - 0, Actual - 0 Improved farming success: Target - 0, Actual - 0 Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Delivery Total Meetings: 1 Total Meeting Participants: 25 Total Webinars: 0 Total Webinar Participants: 0 Total Website Visits: 0 Total Online Course Participants: 0 Meetings 10/22/2019: Red Wing, MN -- Number of Attendees 25 How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Steps Steps taken to help participants There are two major components of this project: 1. Course development and re-development and 2. AgTransitions updates. Since the start of the project, we have met as a team to review previous courses and to develop new materials. In the upcoming year, we will be finalizing development of course and train-the-trainer materials and posting those as a resource at Farm Answers. This includes re-developing "Interpreting Financial Statements and Measures" (IFSaM) and developing a piece that will precede IFSaM and focus on how to develop those statements. In addition, training for rural community colleges on farm financial management resources has been finalized and scheduled. We have also worked with SCORE to link resources between their tools and FarmAnswers.org. AgTransitions will be updated to a modern interface, including updated functionality (emailing others from within AgTransitions), as well as updated tips and resources. In addition, in the coming year, we will be: Updating videos accompanying AgPlan Delivering a workshop at the MOSES Organic conference as well as a training session with the Rural Community College Alliance Adding the SCORE find a mentor widget to AgPlan and AgTransitions Reviewing a farm financial and business management toolbox for Farm Answers

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Results: What Producers Learned, Achieved, Applied Result 1. New farmers will use AgPlan to develop a business plan Producer action: Develop, Topic: Business and strategic planning When measured: End of project Estimated Number: 2000, Actual Number: 0 How verified: Survey of AgPlan users who indicate they are new farmers Result 2. Farmers will develop a farm transition plan. Producer action: Develop, Topic: Transferring the farm When measured: End of project Estimated Number: 300, Actual Number: 0 How verified: Survey of AgTransitions users

Publications