Source: UNIV OF MINNESOTA submitted to
BEGINNING FARMER BUSINESS MANAGEMENT RESOURCES
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1016892
Grant No.
2018-70017-28605
Cumulative Award Amt.
$600,000.00
Proposal No.
2018-02907
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2018
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2021
Grant Year
2018
Program Code
[BFRDB]- Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, Enhancement
Recipient Organization
UNIV OF MINNESOTA
(N/A)
ST PAUL,MN 55108
Performing Department
Applied Economics
Non Technical Summary
The purpose of this Educational Enhancement Team project is to develop new resources to help beginning farmers and ranchers improve the financial and business management aspects of their operations, as well as better-equip educators to guide them through this process. This project will: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 businessesImprove the ability of organizations to deliver farm financial and business management training to beginning farmers and ranchersEvaluate ways to improve the Farm Answers clearinghouse to make it even more valuable to beginning farmers and ranchersThis project will fulfill the two goals of EET projects. It will identify gaps in farm financial and business management tools and programs and address ways to make Farm Answers more valuable to beginning farmers. It will also develop curriculum and deliver train-the-trainer workshops to better equip BFRDP projects to help beginning farmers in farm financial and business management.The partnership of the Center for Farm Financial Management, the Midwest Organic and Sustainability Education Service (MOSES), the Rural Community College Alliance (RCCA), and SCORE brings together a broad spectrum and wealth of experiences and expertise. This partnership will allow the project to gain input from many different perspectives including numerous farmers and ranchers, organizations that work with them, and other individuals and organizations with experience in farm financial management and general business management.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
60160303010100%
Goals / Objectives
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.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.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.
Project Methods
Farm Answers review and gap analysis. Farm Answers.org is the official clearinghouse for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program. It currently has five major components with a sixth still in development.This project will solicit input from many different sources seeking thoughts on how Farm Answers can be improved to become increasingly more valuable for beginning farmers.Develop an online Comprehensive set of Farm Financial Management Training Materials. This project will develop a comprehensive and well-organized set of farm financial and business management tools and programs designed to help beginning farmers and ranchers. To accomplish this goal, the project will evaluate existing tools and programs, modify existing programs as applicable, and develop new tools and programs to fill in the gaps.The resulting tools, programs, and curricula will be organized and developed into one of the primary Toolboxes in Farm Answers.Develop AgPlan curriculum and videos. AgPlan is an online business planning tool designed specifically for agriculture. Planned improvements include:Videos to help producers through the business planning process.Sample plans for more types of farm enterprises and for every section of the business plan.Redesign AgTransitions. AgTransitions is a web tool that helps multiple generations work on all the aspects of transferring a farm or ranch to the next generation.This project will:Add detailed financial worksheets to help both the retiring generation and the new farmer generation develop financial projections and find approaches that are financially feasible for both generations.Develop videos to help both exiting and entering farm families understand the components of transferring a farm including transferring ownership, labor, income and management between generations.Develop more sample farms depicting more types of farms and situations.Update the many farm family worksheets that are associated with AgTransitions.Interpreting Financial Statements and Measures (IFSaM).IFSaM is an online curriculum that helps producers and professionals understand how to interpret and use farm financial statements.This project will:Move IFSaM to a modern interface with better video capability and enable it to work on mobile devices.Develop new video courses that start at an earlier point in the process of developing, using, and understanding farm financial statements. These sections will discuss the primary financial statements commonly used in agriculture, how to access templates, how to develop your own statements, and how to use them to obtain financing.Redevelop the existing content so it is more oriented to farmers and ranchers and applicable to today's ag economy. This content will be designed to help producers understand what their financial statements mean, how they can use them in the management of their farm or ranch, how lenders use them, and how to use them to communicate with their lender.Access to SCORE mentors. SCORE is a nationwide network of more than 13,000 retired business people who volunteer to mentor small business owners. During the past year USDA and SCORE have formed a partnership to help beginning farmers and ranchers access SCORE mentors. This project will further develop this partnership by helping beginning farmers and ranchers learn more about the availability of SCORE resources and how to connect with a SCORE mentor. Specifically this project will:Build into Farm Answers a tool to find and access a SCORE mentor based on a user's location and interests.Build a similar tool into AgPlan so that farmers and ranchers can find a mentor to help with the development of their business plan and with whom they can review ideas for their farm or ranch business.Explore additional ways to help beginning farmers and ranchers connect with SCORE resources.Community college training and linkages. There are about 600 rural and tribal community colleges in the U.S. Some of these colleges have outstanding farm business management programs. Some do not have an existing farm financial management program, but want to start, or are in the process of starting, a program. Community colleges focusing on farm business management have the ability to provide local perspective and assistance to beginning farmers and ranchers throughout the country. This project will:Identify ways to provide better access to community college resources to beginning farmers and ranchers.In collaboration with the Rural Community College Alliance, deliver a train-the-trainer workshop for community college educators on delivering training on farm financial management to beginning farmers and ranchers.Provide farm financial management training, tools, and curricula to rural community colleges to use with beginning farmers and ranchers in their local areas.Train the trainer workshops. This project will deliver train-the-trainer workshops on farm financial and business management tools, programs, and curriculum developed and modified by this project to three different audiences. They are:MOSES Organic Conference. The MOSES conference is attended by more than 3,500 farmers and professionals who work in or are interested in organic food production. In partnership with MOSES, this project will deliver train-the-trainer workshops on farm financial and business manage tools and programs at the MOSES conference.A national workshop for community college educators will be organized for community college educators interested in becoming better equipped to deliver farm business training to farmers and ranchers.A national conference open to all organizations and educators that work with beginning farmers and ranchers.

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