Farms Forever: A partnership approach to increasing farm transfer and succession in southeastern Massachusetts

Farms Forever: A partnership approach to increasing farm transfer and succession in southeastern Massachusetts

Summary

The agricultural community in Southeastern Massachusetts faces a loss of critical mass. Under SARE CNE06-010, SEMAP conducted planning for a local program to enable new and second-generation producers begin farming in our region through increased farmland transfer and tenure arrangements. We identified two beneficiary groups with clear needs: exiting producers, who say they don’t know how to take the first step in farm transfer planning, and entering producers, who want to connect with exiting farmers and non-farming landowners and explore farm structures that don’t involve land ownership. A third group, non-farm landowners who want their land farmed, say they don’t know how to find farmers or understand their tenure needs. We identified many organizations and publications that could help producers in our region, notably Land For Good (LFG) and Farm Transfer Network of New England (FTNNE). But despite these resources, producers feel stuck and unconnected. What is missing? We believe it is a local, on-the-ground catalyst for producer action, referrals, networking, and follow-up.

To fill this gap, under this grant SEMAP is working to implement a regional program, “Farms Forever,” (FF) that will: catalyze producer action on farm transfer planning by leveraging existing funds to offer LFG “packages” in our region, create local peer examples and outreach, implement a referral network to service providers (linked to FTNNE and including land trusts), provide a local communication hub and ongoing follow-up, conduct outreach to non-farming landowners, and help connect land trusts and the ag community. FF will be a central local catalyst and resource to give a clear answer to the question, “Where Do I Start?” SEMAP is working closely with LFG, The Trustees of Reservations, and First Pioneer to implement Farms Forever. Our performance target is that at least 8 exiting and/or entering producers will complete one of several farm transfer/tenure scenarios, resulting in a viable new farm entity in Southeastern Massachusetts.

Since our last report in September 2008, we have nearly completed planning for our second year of workshops/networking event for retiring and beginning producers and non-farm landowners, in the form of our planned March 2009 2nd Anual 1-day farm conference. This event will build on the success of last year’s conference, which drew over 125 attendees. We are also in the process of wrapping up the 8 farm transfer packages with Land For Good, which we hope will result in all 8 farm families reaching at least milestone 6 within the next few months. (Our milestones overlap somewhat, that is, we may be in contact with some beneficiaries on an initial milestone while we are already working with other growers towards later milestones.) We’ve also begun intensive work with LFG on the “Where Do I start” guides. Our Farms Forever Coordinator, Katie Cavanagh, continues to conduct extensive outreach, and she is particularly working to identify farmland that may be available for the increasing number of inquiries we’re receiving from beginning farms who don’t have family land. Finally, we are planning for a Spring 2009 session of the Exploring the Small Farm Dream course, which is an excellent way to connect with entering farmers and let them know about our program. (In fact, it’s how Katie herself first learned about SEMAP’s program!)

Objectives/Performance Targets

Milestone 1: UNDER SEPARATE FUNDING: 600 producers receive applications for reduced-cost “Transfer the Farm!” package from Land For Good. 20 farms apply; 10 are selected. These 10 farms begin LFG packages in Jan. 2007 or later, continuing for 6 months (7 farms) or 12 months (3 farms). Each recipient conducts at least 1 outreach activity to other growers (serving as case study, writing op-ed, presentation, or other). (Nov.-Dec. 06).

Milestone 2: 200 exiting producers and 100 entering producers hear about the project from the point of view of other producers through outreach activities by farms receiving LFG packages (articles, presentations, case studies etc). (By Dec. 07).

Milestone 3: 30 exiting producers and 30 entering producers contact SEMAP to request further information, next steps, and/or a referral to a service provider. (By Dec. 07).

Milestone 4: 20 exiting and 20 entering producers follow up with a service provider in our referral network to prepare for farm transfer activities. (By Feb. 08).

Milestone 5: 10 exiting and 10 entering producers meet individually with potential farm transfer partner(s): entering/exiting grower, family member(s), non-farm landowner, land trust. (Apr. 08).

Milestone 6: 8 exiting and 8 entering producers engage in an intensive one-on-one farm transfer planning process with service providers and a farm transfer partner. (By Jan. 09).

Performance target: Of these 16 producers, AND 10 farms receiving LFG packages, at least 8 producers complete a farm transfer/tenure arrangement resulting in creation of a viable new farm entity in Southeastern Massachusetts. Scenarios may include: a) partial or complete transfer or sale of exiting grower’s farm to 2nd-generation or unrelated entering producer, b) Long-term lease of a farm property by an entering producer (property may be owned by a non-farming landowner, retiring grower, or land trust), or c) sale of a farm property to a land trust, which hires an entering producer to establish a farm enterprise on the land. (By February 2010).

Accomplishments/Milestones

Since our last report, Farms Forever Coordinator Katie Cavanagh has continued to gain experience, increased her outreach efforts, and handle many new inquiries. With farms done with their operations for the season, the number of inquiries has increased noticeably, and we’ve especially observed a growing number of inquiries from new/beginning farmers who are seeking farmland. Katie has taken the primary role in organizing the workshops/networking options for the upcoming 2nd Annual 1-Day Farm Conference on March 7, 2009.

Milestone 1: UNDER SEPARATE FUNDING: 600 producers receive applications for reduced-cost “Transfer the Farm!” package from Land For Good. 20 farms apply; 10 are selected. These 10 farms begin LFG packages in Jan. 2007 or later, continuing for 6 months (7 farms) or 12 months (3 farms). Each recipient conducts at least 1 outreach activity to other growers (serving as case study, writing op-ed, presentation, or other). (Nov.-Dec. 06).

Work towards our first project milestone has actually been underway since 2006 under funding from the A.D. Makepeace Neighborhood Fund. SEMAP’s grant from this funder provided partial support for 10 farm transfer planning “packages” (a 6-month consulting process) from our project partner Land For Good, a NH-based nonprofit specializing in individualized farm transfer planning support for farm families. Makepeace grant funds allow us to offer these packages, at least a $500 value, to farms for just $150, and they provide individualized, 1-on-1 service – something local growers told us was very important during focus groups we held to help plan Farms Forever. So, as noted above, our initial expectation was that we would have more applicants for these packages than we would be able to serve, and that we would have to conduct an application and review process.

Instead, we generally found the opposite – after two years of work and extensive outreach, we finally reached the point where 8 packages were claimed. It should be noted that all package recipients have been extremely pleased with the package opportunity, and we are very pleased with the dedication of all package families. Price has not been an issue for anyone involved either. So, it’s not that the offering is not valuable or affordable. We believe it’s just that convincing families to take the first concrete step in farm transfer planning is very difficult, even when we are offering support that matches as closely as possible the kind of support farms initially told us they would like. It’s just a hard issue to confront.

Currently, we have:
• 6 packages near completion
• 2 packages in process by a potential transfer pair of exiting/entering farmers – each is using one package to receive individualized help, and Land For Good is also helping them to work together on their transfer plan.

Land For Good is now working to bring the initial 6 packages to a close by the end of this winter. 2 packages technically remain available, but several of the current packages have taken much longer than LFG originally anticipated for the price offered. We plan to request A.D. Makepeace permission to use the small amount of additional LFG time remaining on the grant to help bring each package to a successful conclusion and create as many case studies as possible from these farms.

With the initial packages used up, we’ve now begun referring farms to LFG for non-subsidized packages, including some more customized versions of LFG’s services. After a long discussion process, we’ve helped LFG connect with a landowning family that has engaged them to provide a complete long-term plan for the family’s land, including reviewing possible farm business models and seeking potential farmers for long-term lease arrangements. We’re also in the process of working to connect LFG with a farm that is initially seeking business planning services related to tracking costs and profits for each of the farm’s various crops and enterprises, but will eventually use this information to begin a transfer discussion with family members and potential farm managers. Finally, Katie has worked to connect LFG with a recent inquiry—a local family owns a large tract of farmland; one of the siblings is very dedicated to keeping it in agriculture and is seeking to buy out or negotiate with other siblings who are more interested in selling.

As LFG wraps up the initial packages, and new non-subsidized packages get underway, we will continue working towards our goal of generating farm testimonials and success stories to help provide peer encouragement for other farms to address transfer/tenure needs. We know that inquiries will drop off again in the spring, so we are planning in advance to use next spring as a time to interview or collect information from package recipients, and then to use the summer to write, edit, format, and/or circulate them, as appropriate depending on each farm’s wishes. As mentioned earlier, we have already been able to conduct much successful peer outreach through our Farms Forever Coordinator Katie Cavanagh, herself a fifth-generation family farm member.

Milestone 2: 200 exiting producers and 100 entering producers hear about the project from the point of view of other producers through outreach activities by farms receiving LFG packages (articles, presentations, case studies etc). (By Dec. 07).

As described in our earlier report, despite the slower-than-expected response to our initial program offering of the Land For Good packages, which also slowed our progress on creating opportunities for producer outreach activities through Farms Forever, we feel that we satisfactorily reached this Milestone in March 2008 through a combination of personal and mailed outreach efforts over the past year, as follows:

Personal Outreach:

• Sarah Kelley visits to town Agricultural Commission meetings, winter 06-07 – 40 producers directly contacted (4 towns), asked them to provide information to other farms in town.
• Katie Cavanagh presentation at Transferring the Farm workshop, 3/07: 12 farms
• Sarah Kelley and Bob. Bernstein (Land For Good) booth at Cranberry Growers’ summer meeting, 8/07: 200 heard announcement, engaged 20 in direct conversation at booth.
• Katie Cavanagh attendance at Plymouth Conservation District meeting, 12/07: 30 producers attending. Brief announcement about packages and FF in general.
• Katie Cavanagh conducted conduct second round of meetings with town AgComs, winter 2007-8 – met with 12 AgComs in region. (12 Ag Coms x approx. 6 members)
• Held joint SEMAP-Bristol Conservation District One-Day Farm Conference, March 8, 2008. The conference included an intensive farm transfer/tenure workshop with small group sessions geared to the needs of established/retiring farms, new/next-generation farms, and non-farm landowners.

The conference was attended by 125 local growers and each small group session had 20-40 participants. Workshop leaders included Land For Good, a local lawyer and insurance provider with farm transfer expertise, and First Pioneer Farm Credit representatives with expertise in farm business planning. The groups of exiting/entering growers and landowners rotated through the 3 pairs of workshop leaders, allowing each group to receive a targeted presentation and to have the opportunity for networking within their group.

We were extremely pleased that virtually all of the producers attending the conference participated fully in the farm transfer workshop – we had expected some attrition during that time. Many excellent questions were asked, and with the targeted groups it appeared that producers felt more comfortable asking questions, knowing that they would be relevant to everyone in the group. We received many positive evaluation and suggestions for next year, including:

Comments
• Very good and informative
• Excellent well organized very informative glad to see it held at Bristol aggie
• More and more need of info to get new farmers together with the old – overall a super program – excellent information
• Gained valuable information happy this event was put together, wish we could have more of these

What topics would you like to see next year?
• Take the tenure topic a step further – How to convince farmers not sell out to development
• Could you put farm “wanters” together with farm owners? Compare needs

• Katie Cavanagh and Sarah Kelley made a Farms Forever presentation at an Audubon Society event focusing on farm landscapes, 5/21/08: 40 people attending, approximately 15 producers.
• Katie Cavanagh and Sarah Kelley made a presentation on Farms Forever to the Mass Bluberry Growers’ Association, 6/7/08: 20 producers attending.
• Sarah Kelley led workshop on Farms Forever at the NOFA-Mass. Conference on 8/9/08, attended by 4 entering farms, 4 exiting farms, 1 landowner, and 2 service providers.
• Informal conversations with farmers during summer/fall 2008 as SEMAP staff visited farmers’ markets for summer public.
• Katie Cavanagh and Sarah Kelley presented information on Farms Forever at a Bristol Community College forum on their proposed new Organic Agriculture Technical Training program for new farmer education, 11/08.

Total reached through personal outreach: 292

Newsletter/mailing outreach:

• Initial mailing of 600 to SEMAP farm mailing list announcing packages
• Press release #1, 12/06.
• Press release #2, 11/07.
• Mass. Dept of Ag Resources Farm and Market Report Announcement on FF and packages, 11/07: emailed to 2900 names
• Mass. Farm Bureau Newsletter announcement, 11/07: – approximately 2000 emails.
• NE Dairy Challenge, 11/07: Program information provided to 126 students from NE Ag Schools.
• Posting on SEMAP website Farms Forever page with other info and resources.
• Mailing 600 flyers to announce One-Day Farm Conference, 2/08.
• 6/08: SEMAP began adding listings of farmland for lease/sale to our emailed farm announcements. Emailed approximately bi-weekly to approximately 250 local farms.
• Katie Cavanagh profile, including details about Farms Forever work and her own farm, published in Edible South Shore magazine October 2008.
• Katie Cavanagh circulates info on Exploring the Small Farm Dream course by email and listservs, approx. 2000 emails.
• Invitations for March 7, 2009 conference, including farm transfer/tenure workshop info, to be mailed 1/12/09 (1000 copies).

Total reached through newsletter/mailing outreach: 1000-3000

Milestone 3: 30 exiting producers and 30 entering producers contact SEMAP to request further information, next steps, and/or a referral to a service provider. (By Dec. 07).

As mentioned above, progress towards this milestone is occurring concurrently with progress towards Milestones 1 and 2 and further Milestones below. It is occasionally difficult to determine whether a contact should be classified as an exiting or entering grower – for example, it’s often the case that the younger generation will contact us, but the inquiry is primarily about issues relating to the exiting older generation. We’ve generally grouped them based on the status of the person who contacted us.

In total, as of late December 2008 SEMAP has been contacted by:

17 exiting producers
17 entering producers – next generation and/or seeking land
7 landowners – seeking farm managers or people to lease land – includes 1 local town and 1 local land trust with available land, 1 local nonprofit seeking a farm manager, and 3 individuals seeking farm managers.

Case management included: phone contact, referrals for financial providers, Conservation groups, legal services, and online land database. Referrals were made to Land for Good, Trustees of Reservations, First Pioneer Farm Credit, New England Land Link, Farm Transfer Network of New England, Explorer Program, NOFA, Town Agricultural Commission, and Grant resources.

Milestone 4: 20 exiting and 20 entering producers follow up with a service provider in our referral network to prepare for farm transfer activities. (By Feb. 08).

The 8 package recipient farms have completed this step. Since all the package recipients have two generations involved in their discussions, this means that 8 exiting producers (or couples) and 8 entering farms have actually completed these steps.

With the winter season underway we are receiving much more frequent inquiries, and we anticipate that several more farms will soon have completed this milestone.

Milestone 5: 10 exiting and 10 entering producers meet individually with potential farm transfer partner(s): entering/exiting grower, family member(s), non-farm landowner, land trust. (Apr. 08).

The 8 package farms have completed this step, for a total of approximately 8 entering and 8 exiting farms as described above. We are continuing to work towards this milestone with additional farms.

Milestone 6: 8 exiting and 8 entering producers engage in an intensive one-on-one farm transfer planning process with service providers and a farm transfer partner. (By Jan. 09).

The most recent package recipient farms continue to be the furthest along in our milestones. In this situation, a couple wishes to retire and sell their cranberry bog lands, house, and successful business providing mail order Certified Organic cranberries. They are working with an entering grower who has considerable experience managing cranberry bogs locally. The exiting grower contacted SEMAP in the summer to request a listing of her property on SEMAP’s Farms Forever webpage, and the entering grower found the listing for the land on our site. Both parties were very interested in seeing this deal move forward, and they already had a signed purchase and sale for the bog lands on the property.

They came to SEMAP seeking assistance to work out several details of their discussions, including a possible harvest-sharing arrangement for this cranberry harvest season (which has already begun), agreement on provision of business records for financing purposes, and assistance in working out a longer-term arrangement for eventual sale of the house.

SEMAP E.D. and Farms Forever Coordinator discussed the LFG package offering with them and both parties were interested. It was agreed they would each use a package to work individually with LFG on their own needs, and then LFG would also help them work together. On September 4 2008 they met with Katie Cavanagh and LFG at SEMAP’s offices for a marathon 6-hour session. Katie and LFG continued working to support them as they implemented agreements made at that meeting.

These exiting and entering grower pair have now completed the 2008 cranberry harvest, during which they worked jointly under a cost- and profit-sharing agreement. Ownership and control of the property will now pass to the entering grower. Though there are still details to work out, we believe this situation qualifies as the first of our 8 performance target new farm businesses to be formed.

We are continuing to work towards our final performance target of 8 new local farm businesses by February 2010.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

Outcomes

Since our last report in September 2008, the pace of inquires has picked up, and we are preparing for several winter meetings that in the past have proved excellent chances to connect with exiting and entering growers. We are very hopeful that a number of new farms will have begun progress through our milestones in the near future. We will continue to report on our progress towards project outcomes as we move forward.

Other funding:

As mentioned in our last report, in November 2007 SEMAP was awarded a $20,000 grant from the Mass. Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship to support the 1-on-1 technical assistance to small businesses SEMAP is offering through Farms Forever. SARE support was invaluable in leveraging these additional state funds. We completed a successful year of work and reporting to OSBE, exceeding our goals for that program, which were to provide 1-on-1 counseling to 30 farm businesses and 500 hours of one-on-one Technical Assistance, by 210% and 123%, respectively. We reapplied to the OSBE program for FY09 and recently learned that we have been awarded $35,000 for FY09. We are delighted by this news and the approval implied by this year’s larger grant!

In addition, we have also prepared a joint application to the Cedar Tree Foundation with our partner Farm Fresh Rhode Island, which would allow us to develop a centralized online resource to post needed and available farm land, jobs, and used equipment. We’ve found that our website listings of farmland available/needed, which are currently posted in an ad hoc Google group, have already resulted in several inquiries and one “match” that appears to be on the road to a successful new farm business. Finally, we have submitted a pre-proposal to the Northeast Center for Risk Management for ongoing Farms Forever support; we will learn if we have been invited to submit a full proposal in February 2009.

Other activities/Work with Project Partners:

• Service Provider Meetings: As reported earlier, we used time over the summer to meet with service providers in our referral network. One payoff from this effort has been the “How to Save a Million Dollars” workshop that attorney Neal Satran has agreed to present at our March 2009 conference.

• Online land listings: We are continuing to our website to streamline our listings for available and wanted farmland. Please see the Google group link that we’re currently utilizing with our partner Farm Fresh RI to post such listings. http://groups.google.com/group/landjobsstuff

• “Where Do I Start” Guides: We are making progress with LFG on the “Where Do I Start” Guides. These were envisioned in our proposal as short, paper-based, region-specific, and resource-linked guides specifically designed in 3 versions for exiting/entering growers and non-farm landowners. We’ve set a deadline to complete these documents by February 09, so that we can introduce and use them as part of the March 09 farm conference.

• March 09 Farm Conference: The conference agenda is complete, and we hope the diverse offerings will attract an even larger group of growers than last year. In addition to the “How to Save a Million Dollars” workshop mentioned above, which will emphasize the cost savinsg possible through early farm transfer planning, Land For Good has agreed to present a workshop on farmland leasing (under their separate funds). This means we have one workshop specifically targeted to exiting growers and one for entering growers, which should help us to identify and build new relationships in both groups.

The day will also include production-oriented workshops on season extension and grassfed meat production, a “grants room” where producers can get information on many state, federal, and nonprofit farm grant programs, a vendor fair, and lunch and networking time. We found this combined approach very successful last year and believe it helped us reach many more producers that would have attended a stand-alone farm transfer workshop.

• Work with Trustees of Reservations: Since our last report, SouthCoast Conservation Director Jennifer Holske has been promoted to the position vacated by our prior liaison, Southeastern Mass. Regional Land Conservation Director Anthony Cucchi. We’re very pleased to continue working with Jennifer and anticipate that we will begin using more consulting time from TTOR now that their staffing has stabilized. We’ve begun discussions with Jennifer and seevarl other individuals and groups about the possibility of embarking on an inventory of unused or under-used ag lands in our region, which we would collaboratively work to fund through other grants.

• Exploring the Small Farm Dream Course with Mass. Dept of Ag Resources: As mentioned above, we’ve agreed with work with MDAR again this spring to co-sponsor a Southeastern Massachusetts session of the Exploring the Small Farm Dream Course. This 4-session, “pre-business planning” course helps interested new/beginning farmers clarify their business ideas and consider whether starting a farm business is right for them. Our last course in 2006 was filled to capacity with 12 participants, and it was an excellent opportunity for connections that led us to 3 package recipients as well as Katie Cavanagh, who became our Farms Forever Coordinator. Katie is currently working to promote the course and identify participants.

We hope you will be pleased with this Annual Report of progress, and look forward to providing SARE with further updates as we proceed.

Respectfully submitted,

Sarah Kelley
SEMAP Executive Director
508-295-2212 x 50
skelley@semaponline.org
www.semaponline.org

Collaborators: