NORTHFIELD, Minn. — Are you a farmer or landowner thinking about the next steps for your farm and the legacy you would like to leave on the land? The Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Transition Planning Workshop Series provides an opportunity to reflect on the future as well as to do some active planning. The workshop will be held at the Northfield First United Church of Christ Church (300 Union St.) on three Saturdays: January 20, Feb. 10 and March 3. The three, full-day sessions build on one another, so attendance at all of them ensures the greatest understanding and planning opportunities. The cost for the workshop series is $200 per family. For more information and to register, contact Karen Stettler at 507-523-3366 or stettler@landstewardshipproject.org.
“It is never too early to start thinking about your farm transition,” said Stettler, who works on farm transition issues for the Land Stewardship Project. “This workshop series will provide an opportunity to join with other farmers who are pondering their next transition steps and to develop goals while assessing future financial considerations.”
Presenters at the workshop will include other area farmers who are implementing a farm transition plan, as well as experts representing the legal, financial and healthcare fields as they relate to agricultural businesses. Workshop participants will have an opportunity to begin engaging in the planning process as well as learn about resources for continuing the process after the workshop has ended.
“Farm transition is about life transition. In the longer view, it is our lives that come and go—the farm stays,” said Ted Fisher, a Wisconsin farmer who participated in a previous Farm Planning Transition Workshop. “We pour body and soul into the farm while we are here and when we leave it one day we hope to see someone else love it as much as we do. Living to see this happen in some form is, to me, the central issue of farm transition.”
For more information on transitioning the farm to the next generation, see www.landstewardshipproject.org/morefarmers/farmtransitiontools.
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