Tools to Get You Started

A farm is a deeply personal thing. It is a home, a business, a living ecosystem, a way of life. It can also be an investment in the future of agriculture. When a family makes a farm transition plan, they can shape the values and stewardship that will be carried out on that land, and potentially give new farmers an opportunity to get started.

The Land Stewardship Project has several tools for people planning a farm transition:

• Farm Transitions Planning self-guided worksheets.
• Farmland Access Financial Decision-Making Tool: Assessing Risk, Affordability, Readiness & Land Access Options is a resource that covers four critical areas of decision-making beginning farmers should consider when it comes to obtaining quality, affordable farmland: 1) Visioning, 2) Experience, 3) Finances, and 4) Land Assessment. Considering these critical areas of decision-making will not only help with land access, but will also increase knowledge and skills that farmers can apply to other critical decisions.
• The Minnesota Beginning Farmer Tax Credit provides an incentive to sell or rent land or other agricultural assets — machinery, buildings, facilities, livestock, etc. — to a beginning farmer. There is also a tax credit available for beginning farmers who participate in a financial management program.
• The Seeking Farmers-Seeking Land Clearinghouse allows land seekers and those who have land available to post their information publicly and connect with interested parties.
• Look Who’s Knockin’: LSP’s one-act play dramatizes the challenges and opportunities that emerge when discussing passing on the farm to the next generation. Ear to the Ground podcast episodes 94 and 95 tell the story.