Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
(N/A)
LINCOLN,NE 68583
Performing Department
Panhandle Research and Ext Ctr
Non Technical Summary
Women are a significant and growing percentage of the population employed by, managing, and owning farms and ranches in Nebraska - the 24,730 female producers in Nebraska counted by the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture represented 32 percent of all farm operators in the state (Table 52), a 22 percent increase in the state since the 2012 USDA Census. Women producers operate a total of 20,323,537 acres of farmland (Table 57), with the size of farms and ranches varying greatly: 35 percent of female-operated farms are greater than 500 acres, 17 percent are 180-499 acres, 19 percent are 50 to 179 acres, and 30 percent are less than 50 acres (Table 57). Furthermore, 24 percent of these Nebraskan women producers have been farming for ten years or less, qualifying them as beginning farmers and ranchers (Table 58).USDA recognizes women as an underserved audience. Women are subjected to prejudice because of their identity as members of a group without regard to individual qualities. This simplified standard grant will be used to enhance the activities of the Nebraska Women in Agriculture Program to provide innovative farm business management education for beginning female farmers and ranchers (BFFR), and develop a Land Link service for Nebraska.Targeted education for women creates community and builds networks among resource providers and women farmers. Research has shown that networks are particularly important for women farmers (Devlin, 2017; Shortall, 1996; Trauger et al., 2008). Networks provide opportunities for women to build trust, share information, and build agency (Trauger et al., 2008). Additionally, networks provide support, informal learning, and at times mentorship. Connections are important to women farmers. They need peers and a place to share difficulties and mitigate isolation in being involved in agriculture (Annes & Wright, 2015; Trauger, et al., 2008).Currently, Annie's Project is the only targeted education provided in Nebraska for BFFR, according to FarmAnswers.org. This project will fund a portfolio of programs, including at least five Annie's Project courses and a two-day Women in Agriculture conference, reaching 70 BFFR with 8 to 18 hours of education per event. These activities will cater to women by encouraging them to ask questions, connect with participants and speakers, and share their experiences. These hands-on programs will focus on increasing the knowledge and skills of attendees, ultimately leading to more successful BFFR.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
The two main goals of this project are:Help BFFR in Nebraska succeed by providing unbiased research-based information to address the highest priority educational needs of this audience;Establish a Land Link service for Nebraska.
Project Methods
This project will enhance at least five Annie's Project courses and a two-day Women in Agriculture conference to focus more on BFFR. The project intends to reach 70 BFFR with 8 to 18 hours of education per event. These activities will cater to women by encouraging them to ask questions, connect with participants and speakers, and share their experiences. These hands-on programs will focus on increasing the knowledge and skills of attendees, ultimately leading to greater success of BFFR.Activity 1:The Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference is a two-day conference consisting of five general sessions and five 75-minute concurrent sessions, with five workshops per concurrent session (25 workshop options total). This event is designed to educate and uplift women through risk management education. Attendees learn how to better manage risk, improve their farms and ranches and become more successful operators and business partners. Since starting in 1985, women have embraced the conference, averaging 250 participants per year.A participant attending both days of the conference will gain over 12 hours of education. The conference will cater to women by encouraging them to ask questions, connect with participants and speakers, and share their experiences. We will provide adequate networking breaks to provide them the opportunity to develop deeper relationships with other participants and have continued interaction with speakers. The 2021 Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference is scheduled for February 18-19, 2021 in Kearney, Nebraska.These funds will be used to enhance the 2021 Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference. As a part of this funding, the conference will employ at least one general session speaker and develop a BFFR workshop track, which will consist of 5 workshop concurrent speakers. These speakers will specifically address the high priority topics of BFFR. In order to attract BFFR, ten $150 scholarships will be awarded to BFFR. The purpose of these scholarships is twofold: to assist BFFR with the expense associated with attending the event and assist in the marketing of conference to BFFR.Activity 2:Annie's Projects encourage women to ask questions, connect with participants and speakers, and share their experiences. These courses will be cohorts of 20 or fewer participants taught by qualified instructors. These funds will be used to enhance Nebraska Annie's Project courses, by ensuring these hands-on programs will focus on increasing the knowledge and skills of attendees in the priority topic areas for BFFR. Funds will be specifically used for the travel expenses of facilitators and speakers that address the priority areas of BFFR. Each course will employ the core values of Annie's Project: (1) Safe Harbor - All questions or situations are welcome for sharing and open discussion. (2) Connection - The learning environment encourages participants to relate to each other and to presenters. (3) Discovery - Participants experience moments when something makes sense where before it did not. (4) Shared Learning - There is always a participant who knows more about the subject presented than the instructor does and is willing to share her experience.To ensure these projects meet the local needs, each location will host a steering committee meeting. Each steering committee will select from one of the following pre-existing curriculum choices OR facilitators will develop a new Annie's Project curriculum targeted towards BFFR.Annie's Project Level 1 - Annie's Project Level 1 consists of 18 hours of risk management education, traditionally delivered over a 6-week period. Sessions will be split equally between instruction and discussion or interactive learning. Sessions will address the five areas of agriculture risk management. These courses can be customized to address priority topic areas for BFFR.Annie's Project Inspired: Good Farmer to Great Manager - The difference between a good farmer and a great manager often comes down to knowing the true financial position of a farm. Good records make it possible to track an operation's true financial position. Inaccurate records can lead to misguided management decisions. "Good Farmer to Great Manager" Record-keeping classes will teach farmers and ranchers how to keep accurate records for their operations. This 8-hour course emphasizes that keeping good records is less about using certain software and more about gathering and organizing information. In this class, participants will learn about what information they should have easily available as part of their farm or ranch records for tax preparation, loan renewals and financial analysis.Annie's Project: Know Your Numbers, Know Your Options - The Annie's Project: Know Your Numbers, Know Your Options curriculum will consist of four 3-hour sessions (12 hours of education). The course is designed to increase participants' understanding of farm financial ratios, record keeping, and decision making, with the goal of making participants more aware of their actual financial position, emboldening them to explore options to improve their situation, and finally encouraging them take action through a written financial management plan. This course is aimed at helping women understand their current financial position and how big decisions like rebuilding after disaster, large purchases, new leases, transitioning portions of the farm to the next generation, or changes in production will affect their bottom line. Upon completion of this program, participants will have a better understanding of how financial records can be used to make decisions and confidently discuss their financial position with their family, business partners, and lenders.Activity 3:Funding from this project will be used for the development and management of a Land Link service for Nebraska, including the creation of a website and educational materials.Our service would have three main parts (1) a listing website, (2) applicant vetting and (3) additional educational support.The first portion of our service would be an interactive website, allowing interested parties to create a profile. Similar to other land linking services, a profile would identify someone as seeking agricultural land, and/or those seeking to lease, sell, or transfer land, as well as the location, and type of property. The profiles will be used to match interested parties with one another.Although the matching process can be largely mechanized by a website, we intend to vet applicants to ensure profile accuracy. Once applicants are approved, they would be able to see the profiles of those seeking agricultural land, and/or those seeking to lease, sell, or transfer land. More importantly, this process would allow us to assess additional educational needs.The final component of our service is additional educational support, both online and in-person. The Nebraska Land Link website would be an arsenal of resources from the University of Nebraska - Lincoln, and farmanswers.org related to agricultural land management and farmland access. New materials may be developed to address Nebraska specific needs, or areas not adequately covered by current resources.In addition to the website, in-person education specifically for women will be conducted through Annie's Projects, and as a workshop at the 2021 Nebraska Women in Agriculture Conference. These courses will be used to promote the Land Link website, but also to specifically address the need for additional resources related to agricultural leases and family and business relationships, which were identified as high priority topics by BFFR.The Nebraska Land Link service will also be promoted at other University of Nebraska - Lincoln events. For example, the University of Nebraska - Lincoln currently has plans for 10 cash lease workshops in 2020-21, reaching an estimated 200 participants.