Progress report for LNE23-471
Project Information
Problem or Opportunity and Justification:
USDA Agricultural Census data shows that 30% of New England’s agricultural producers are age 65 and older, a total of 17,716 producers (2017). Gaining Insights, a study by American Farmland Trust and Land For Good (LFG), found that 92% of New England’s senior farmers likely had no identified successor. This means that nearly a third of the region’s farmland is at risk, with the future of these farms uncertain.
For many farmers, their land is their only appreciable asset, and their ability to finance retirement rests on the equity in their farmland. These farmers voice concern about the capacity of younger farmers to buy them out.
Farmers are interested and willing to look outside the family for a successor. They are also open to innovative strategies for farm transfer and succession. However, they need help understanding their options, navigating the complex process of choosing the right strategies, and finding a suitable successor. They also need technical assistance from expert advisors to design and implement their succession plans. This planning process can take years, and a successful transfer to a new owner is best implemented gradually over a decade.
To address this problem, retiring farmers need education, support, encouragement, and wrap-around technical assistance to create and implement succession plans. Retiring farmers also need information, support, and incentives to prioritize transfer to historically underserved farmers.
Solution and Approach
This project will create opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, group training and individualized advising for farm succession planning. On farm gatherings (e.g., potlucks, farm tours) will create a relaxed atmosphere for creating a community of support. Existing guides and workbooks will enable farmers to engage at their own pace. New case studies will demonstrate a variety of farm transfer strategies.
Different cohorts of farmers will engage each winter in a multi-session Farm Succession School. This course prioritizes peer sharing and interactive, in-depth learning. Farmers who are ready to engage further will receive individualized coaching and advising.
Farmers will benefit by getting clarity on their options, feeling supported through a complicated process, writing down concrete steps, identifying advisors and needed resources, moving forward in their planning, and for some finalizing their transfer plan. Educational materials used in this project will promote land transfer to underserved farmers. A new generation of farmers will have additional farmland access opportunities. Working farmlands can continue to offer environmental, economic, and social benefits to their communities.
Land For Good has been offering farm succession support since 2004. The methods proposed in this project have successfully advanced knowledge, skills, or behaviors as determined by post-intervention surveys. Direct support for farm succession is the service most requested by our farming community.
20 farmers will complete written farm succession plans, transferring 2,000 acres of farmland to future farmers, and each report reduced stress.
Description of Problem or Opportunity
USDA Agricultural Census data shows that 30% of New England’s agricultural producers are age 65 and older, a total of 17,716 producers across the six states at or above retirement age (2017). Gaining Insights, a study by American Farmland Trust and Land For Good, found that 92% of New England’s senior farmers likely had no identified successor. This means that nearly a third of the region’s farmland is at risk, with the future of many of these farms uncertain. Great opportunity exists to engage with senior farmers and a new generation to proactively develop and implement succession plans.
How and to whom this land and farm infrastructure transfers will have an enormous impact on the future of farming. Thoughtful plans and clear opportunities need to be in place. This project addresses a need that crosses farms of all scale, size, location, and enterprise types. For current and future farmers, the financial viability, quality of life, and the ability to feed and contribute to their community are all at stake.
Focus groups of the Gaining Insights study found that while farmers differ in their views of retirement, they often share a universal vision of wanting their farms to continue. Some want to remain on the farm and “die with their boots on”; these farmers are largely interested in finding someone to lease or take gradual ownership of the farm. Others are ready to sell to a suitable farm buyer and leave the farm. For many, their land is their only appreciable asset, and their ability to finance retirement rests on their ability to extract equity from the land. Those in this situation voice concern about the capacity of younger farmers to buy them out.
In general, senior farmers express feeling overwhelmed by succession. The following factors contribute: lack of time to devote to it, complicated family dynamics, and issues around financial security and future farm viability.
Farmers are interested and willing to look outside the family for a successor. They are also open to innovative approaches and strategies around farm transfer and succession. However, they need help understanding their options, navigating the complex process of choosing the right strategies, and finding a suitable successor. They also need technical assistance from expert advisors to design and implement their succession plans. This planning process can take years, and a successful transfer to a new owner is best implemented gradually over a decade.
Solution and Benefits
This project will create opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, group training and individualized advising for farm succession planning. Farm gatherings such as potlucks and farm tours will create a relaxed atmosphere for sharing and build a community of support. Promotion of existing guides and workbooks will enable farmers to engage at their own pace. New case studies will demonstrate a variety of farm transfer strategies.
Different cohorts of farmers will engage each winter in a multi-session Farm Succession School. This course prioritizes peer sharing and interactive, in-depth learning. Conversations will be guided by facilitators; guest financial and legal professionals will present. Homework will encourage progress. They will document detailed next steps by the final class.
Farmers who are ready to engage further will receive individualized coaching and advising. In some cases, this may be more appropriate than the Farm Succession School.
Farmers will benefit by getting clarity on their options, feeling supported through a complicated process, writing down concrete steps, identifying advisors and needed resources, moving forward in their planning, and for some finalizing their transfer plan. Because of this process, farmers will have more peace of mind about their personal future and the future viability of their farm. A new generation of farmers will have additional farmland access opportunities. Working farmlands can continue to offer the environmental, economic, and social benefits to their communities.
Land For Good (LFG) has been offering farm succession support for farmers and service providers since 2004. One method does not work for all farmers, and a workshop or guidebook does not suffice. The methods proposed in this project have successfully advanced knowledge, skills, or behaviors as determined by post-intervention surveys. They are also the top requests by farmers LFG surveyed.
Research
Education
This project will support farmers in the six New England states to increase knowledge of succession planning, improve skills for family conversations, write a farm transfer plan, and begin implementation. The target audience is senior farmers; junior family and non-family successors will also benefit. This project supports the new generation by facilitating viable farm transfers to ensure farmland remains available. LFG highlights innovative methods such as lease-to-own that addresses affordability and can interest both exiting and new farmers.
Engagement:
Land For Good will recruit farmers via mailing lists, social media, listservs, and partner announcements. LFG will provide recruitment materials to collaborators and mail postcards where possible. Word of mouth referrals and hard copy mailings are most effective in reaching farmers for this topic.
Farmers will co-host on-farm events and will aid in recruitment. Farmers who attend these events will receive a copy of the “Farm Succession Planning: Where Do I Start?” workbook and referrals for additional advisors as appropriate. They will receive follow up phone calls to offer further assistance.
Each year, LFG will engage a cohort of ten to sixteen farms to join our Farm Succession School. They will be recruited similarly and may be a subset of prior attendees. They will receive a binder of materials and homework. LFG staff will connect them with other advisors as needed and follow up by phone and email to confirm progress or additional assistance needed.
A subset of this group will engage in ongoing individualized advising. In some cases, it may be more appropriate for a farm to engage in individualized advising rather than join the Succession School. These farms will receive written guides and worksheets according to their needs. They will receive monthly or as needed zoom or in-person sessions, and appropriate external referrals.
Learning:
Farmers will attend fall field walks at farms that have been successfully transferred. A farm tour by the host and discussion time will enable peer to peer sharing, increase knowledge of the farm succession planning process, and broaden awareness of strategies, advisors, and resources. Field walk events will happen at varied locations across the region and highlight different farm transfer scenarios to showcase the diversity of approaches.
A winter webinar series will cover an overview of succession planning, successful communication, financial considerations, and legal aspects. Webinars and farm events will expand knowledge and awareness so that farmers are less overwhelmed and more inclined to take further action.
Succession School will bring together ten to sixteen farms per year over three winter months. Schools will be held in different locations throughout the project, two locations per year. LFG staff will facilitate the sessions with guest attorneys, financial professionals, and other advisors presenting. This cohort model with sequential meetings allows for added peer sharing and support. Homework will encourage farmers to hold family and stakeholder meetings, record their goals and values, compile financial information, locate estate planning documents, and by the class end have a detailed written plan of next steps. Farmers will leave with a personalized task list and referrals to advisors. LFG will record checklists and conduct individual calls to celebrate & encourage progress six months after school completion.
Individualized advising will support farmers in drafting farm succession plans, which will include, as appropriate: visions and goals, family and stakeholder communications, business planning and entity development, retirement and estate planning, land use planning, asset transfer and/or management transfer.
Evaluation:
A survey at the end of webinars and on-farm events will gauge knowledge gained, future needs, and desired follow up. LFG will also collect feedback on the design of future events and support needed which will be used in year two of the project and for subsequent projects.
Farm Succession School participants will complete an evaluation form at the completion of the school. This form will measure knowledge, skill, awareness, and behavior change over the course of the three-month course. LFG will also collect feedback to inform future program development. When LFG staff follow up with participants in six months, additional questions will be asked to gauge the longer-term impact of the course, actions they have taken and changes in confidence or stress around their farm transfer.
Similarly, farmers engaging with individualized assistance will complete an interview or in-depth survey at the end of their support to document the actions they have taken, attitude changes and suggestions for future work. Interviews and surveys will record how many farmers and farm businesses have been impacted and clarify acres of land to be transferred.
Milestones
The following milestones have NOT BEGUN. Due to leadership and staffing changes at our organization, LFG has delayed implementation of this project by a year. We have engaged with one partner who requested a farm succession training which will be offered in February 2024. We anticipate hiring the project coordinator for this project in February 2024 and pulling together the advisory committee in March. We anticipate asking for a no-cost extension for a year and changing the milestone dates by one year.
- Engagement: December 15, 2023; December 15, 2024. 250 farmers will receive outreach materials to participate in training opportunities annually from Sept - Dec 2023 & 2024. LFG communications staff will develop outreach materials with advisory committee input. LFG communications staff will track distribution, open rates and registration numbers.
- Learning and Evaluation: November 15, 2023; November 15, 2024. At least 60 farmers will participate at on-farm events. We will hold three events annually with at least 10 participants at each. Farmers will learn from LFG staff about available resources and advisors. Farmers will learn from their peers about their approach to succession planning and farm transfer strategies. Evaluation forms will be distributed at the end of each event to capture farmer learning, identify interest in further support, and feedback.
- Learning and Evaluation: February 28, 2024; February 28, 2025. 100 farmers will attend a four session farm succession webinar series in January and February. We will offer the series annually, reaching 200 farmers. It will be taught and facilitated by LFG staff with guest speakers. An electronic survey form will be distributed at the end of the series to capture learning and feedback.
- Learning and Evaluation: March 31, 2024; March 31, 2025. At least 20 farmers will participate in a Farm Succession School. We will offer the course in four different locations (two each year of the project), meeting between January and March. Project leader, S Blum-Evitts, will facilitate the course with additional LFG field agents as co-facilitators and guest speakers. Verbal feedback will be solicited at the end of each course and a written evaluation form from each participant to understand changes in knowledge, attitude and behavior. Farmers will leave the course with a written list of their next steps in their planning process.
- Learning: May 31 2025. At least 10 farmers will engage in individual advising, which will be provided Oct 2023 - May 2025. LFG Field Agents and Project Coordinator will provide coaching. Additional advisors will be recommended depending on the farmers’ needs.
- Engagement and Learning: November 30, 2024. Three written case studies will be published that will document different farm transfer scenarios. They will feature a farm that was transferred within the family, a farm transfer to a non-related underserved farmer, and a third to be determined by the advisory committee at a later time. These studies will cover the financial and legal tools utilized, the advisors, timeline, notes on process and lessons learned - to serve as educational resources for both farmers and other service providers. These will be disseminated via LFG’s website, e-mailing lists, social media, conferences and training.
- Evaluation: May 31 2025. A culminating evaluation will be conducted by interview or in-depth survey with all individual advised farmers and Succession School participants. Project leader, S Blum-Evitts, will develop the evaluation instrument with input from our evaluation consultant. Blum-Evitts and other LFG staff will conduct interviews. The evaluation consultant will assist in review of the feedback.