Our 2017 National Young Farmer Survey found land access to be the number one challenge that young farmers and ranchers face. Many
of these are first-generation farmers from non-farming backgrounds, who need
support to determine how land tenure decisions will impact the financial health
of their farm businesses. Although there are a number of financial planning
tools available, none are specifically focused on financial decision-making for
land access.
The goal for this project was to create educational tools and programs that enable beginning
farmers and ranchers across the country to make informed financial decisions
during the process of accessing land so that they will have a solid framework
on which to build strong, sustainable farm businesses. We achieved this goal by creating the Finding Farmland program, which consists of a unique calculator tool, a companion online course, and a workshop series, all focused on helping farmers approach the financial decisions related to land access.
The Finding Farmland Calculator (http://findingfarmland.org) is a web application designed to help farmers
and ranchers across the country make informed financial decisions during the
process of accessing land. The site was created in partnership with Fathom
Information Design, a technology and design firm that partners with clients to understand,
express, and navigate complex data through visualizations,
interactive tools, and software. The main feature of the website is a unique mortgage calculator that farmers can use to compare financing costs for different farm properties, or to compare different financing scenarios for a single property. Farmers can also enter financial information from their records and business plans to more comprehensively understand creditworthiness
and how purchasing farmland fits into their overall farm financial planning. The Calculator is used by farmers as a business planning tool and by lenders and technical assistance providers as a beginner farmer teaching tool.
The Finding Farmland Course serves as a companion resource to the Calculator, in that
it provides instruction, context, activities, and suggested resources that
will help beginning farmers seeking land access to confidently approach the financial
decisions they will encounter. The
Course contains nine lessons, beginning with goal setting and land tenure
options, moving into financial planning methods and financing options, then
ending with lessons on different land access methods: leasing, buying, and
transfers. Each lesson features a blog post and podcast featuring expert guest presenters; an activity; an instructional video for using
topic-relevant features of the Calculator; and a compilation of suggested
external resources. The whole course is free and can be taken any time at your own pace.
From
September 2017 to February 2019, Young Farmers organized and hosted eleven
full-day or half-day Finding Farmland Workshops for beginning farmers with partner organizations in
regions across the country. These workshops reached 269 farmers, and developed an internal staff capacity to present on topics related to financial decision making for land access at conferences, on webinars, with our chapters, and by request from partner organizations.
This project reached more than ten thousand individual beginning farmers during the grant period, and has enabled the Coalition to develop an educational platform that will serve farmers and ranchers seeking land access for years to come.