Transferring Farms and Improving Access to Farmland: A Training Program for Northeast Agricultural Service Providers

Transferring Farms and Improving Access to Farmland: A Training Program for Northeast Agricultural Service Providers

Summary

Current and prospective farmers face significant challenges in securing access to affordable farmland in New York and New England. Nearly 25% of the farmland in the seven-state region where this project focuses (New York plus the six New England states) is owned by farmers aged 65 and older; this land will likely transfer to new ownership in the next decade and is at the highest risk of being developed.  Continued land loss and increased farm real estate values have made leased land an appealing interim and even longer-term alternative to buying land, yet connecting farmers with landowners willing to lease is often complicated and negotiating successful tenure agreements is complex.   

To address this problem, American Farmland Trust proposes to launch a multifaceted, targeted training program to help 80 Extension staff and other agricultural service providers gain mid-level or advanced knowledge about farm transfer and farmland access options. Traditional agricultural service providers need more knowledge and skills to be able to advise farmers fully on potential land transfer strategies. These providers tend to have little interaction with non-farming landowners (NFLOs), who control a significant portion of farmland. While land trusts can be an important link to NFLOs, most land trust staff is not knowledgeable about farm transfer strategies, farmland leasing, or linking and matching resources that may facilitate land transfer.   

The training program will consist of a series of progressive learning and networking opportunities, including webinars (to address basic knowledge needs for those who need it), a regional convocation in Year Two (that will build on the groundwork done in Year One), and advanced problem-solving and peer-to-peer exchange in the form of follow-up conference calls. The direct beneficiaries of this program will be:  Extension personnel, other agricultural service providers (e.g., Farm Credit; state departments of agriculture; farm organizations), and land trust staff in New York and New England.  

The program outcome is that, over the course of the project, 40 agricultural service providers and land trust staff will use the knowledge gained from this program to educate 400 farmers and/or non-farming landowners who own or manage 20,000 acres of farmland about farm transfer and farmland access tools.  Twenty of these service providers or land trust staff will work intensively with 30 farmers and landowners that own or manage at least 1,500 acres to adopt specific farmland access or farm transfer strategies. 

Objectives/Performance Targets

During the program period, forty agricultural service providers and land trust staff (beneficiaries) will use the knowledge gained from this program to educate 400 farmers and/or non-farming landowners who own or manage 20,000 acres of farmland about farm transfer and farmland access tools. Twenty of these beneficiaries will work intensively with 30 of these farmers and landowners that own or manage at least 1,500 acres to adopt specific farmland access or farm transfer strategies.  

Accomplishments/Milestones

The Transferring Farms and Improving Access to Farmland project (aka Farmland Advisors) achieved important milestones in the past year.  More than 10,000 individuals received information about the proposed project with 93 applications being received for the program and 80 participants selected and committed to participate. Seventy-eight beneficiaries participated in at least one of three program webinars and 74 beneficiaries attended the two-day convocation.  AFT and LFG anticipate continued strong participation in the remaining elements of the Transferring Farms and Improving Access to Farmland program. 

Milestones

9/1/12: 500 Extension educators, agricultural service providers, land trust staff, and others learn about AFT’s Transferring Farms and Improving Access to Farmland program.

AFT and LFG distributed a program announcement about the Farmland Advisors training program via AFT’s Enews and website, personal emails and a press release generated on October 9, 2012.  More than 10,000 individuals received the announcement via AFT’s Enews and AFT and LFG sent emails to more than 700 organizations in the target audience. 

10/30/12:  80 individuals (the beneficiaries) commit to participation in the training program and receive an electronic survey to assess their current level of knowledge with farmland transfer and access tools and strategies.  

AFT and LFG established a competitive application process for the Farmland Advisors program.  93 applications were received and 80 participants were selected and made commitments to participate in the program.  A survey was sent to participants via Survey Monkey to assess knowledge, skills and experience with farm transfers, farmland access and non-farming landowners. 

12/30/12: All beneficiaries receive written training materials and information about the webinar series, regional convocation and peer-to-peer learning opportunities.

Participants received information via email and a dedicated Farmland Advisors webpage created at AFT’s website (http://www.farmland.org/programs/protection/Farmland-Advisors.asp). 

2/1/13 – 4/30/13:  50 beneficiaries participate in the webinar series to receive basic knowledge about farmland access and transfer tools and training materials.

AFT and LFG organized 3 webinars including:

February 26, 2013 – Farmland Access Tools and Strategies

                Speakers:  Kathy Ruhf, Land for Good; Ben Waterman, University of Vermont Extension; Jennifer

Hashley, New Entry Sustainable Farming Project

                Attendees: 78

March 27, 2013 – Farm Transfer Planning

Speakers: John Jaffe, Farm Credit East; Jerry Cosgrove, Local Economies Project

Attendees:  66

June 6, 2013 – Non-Farming Landowners

                Speakers: Kathy Ruhf, Land for Good; Bob Wagner, American Farmland Trust

                Attendees:  62

5/30/13:  50 beneficiaries receive an electronic survey to gauge changes in their knowledge about farmland access and transfer tools from participation in webinars.

All Farmland Advisors participants received a second electronic survey and 51 participants in the Farmland Advisors program completed it. 

10/30/13: All beneficiaries participate in a two-day regional convocation where they receive mid-level and advanced training about land listing, matching and linking, leasing, affordability mechanisms, land conservation options during the farm transfer process, and other tools. 

All Farmland Advisors participants received invitations to participate in the two-day convocation.  76 participants indicated that they were going to attend, and 74 beneficiaries attended the event that was held on November 18^th and 19^th at the Hilton Albany in Albany, New York. 

11/1/13 – 2/28/13: All beneficiaries participate in one or multiple sub-region conference calls (New England or New York) to discuss the tools described at the regional convocation and how to best use them with landowners in their locality. 

Farmland Advisors participants received information about a proposed series of conference calls that will be held between February and April 2013. 

11/1/13 – 4/30/13:  40 beneficiaries receive support as they work to apply their knowledge in organizing workshops, farm meetings and other exchanges to provide basic training to 600 farmers and/or non-farming landowners about farmland access and/or transfer tools. 20 beneficiaries help 30 farmers and/or non-farming landowners to keep land in farming, develop a successful lease, use equity sharing or another business arrangement, or develop a farmland transfer plan. 

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Collaborators: