COLUMBUS, Ohio – Recognizing obstacles aspiring and early-career farmers face, the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association (OEFFA) and The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) are helping support and increase the number of successful farmers in the state in different ways.

OEFFA developed Pitching Your Farm Dream, a workshop for aspiring farmers. CFAES created Farm On, one of the four approved farm financial management programs The Ohio State University has four approaches to meet the needs of Ohio’s beginning farmers and ranchers through House Bill 95.

Pitching Your Farm Dream is structured to allow for the discussion and practice of the necessary skills for engaging landowners in conversation about using or buying their land. “As we were developing our program and conceiving the different needs that farmers have when it comes to actually accessing farmland to grow on, this seems like something that was one of the missing pieces,” said Jerah Pettibone, OEFFA Begin Farming and Land Access Educator.

As both the average age of U.S. farmers and the number of small farmers exiting the industry continue to rise, the need to inform and educate beginning farmers and those interested in entering the field is vital to the development of Ohio agriculture. According to the OEFFA website,10 percent of small farmers are exiting the industry each year, and the current median farming age is 59.

Farmland ownership is a long-term investment with financial liabilities, while farmland land leases are subject to ownership fluctuations and uncontrolled variables. Pitching Your Farm Dream participants were exposed to both methods of land acquisition.

“Acquiring land is difficult in Ohio for many reasons; it can be a very competitive environment,” Pettibone said. “Our strategy is to prepare people for that competitive environment and also get them to be able to talk about themselves as individuals and valuable humans that take pride in their work and stand out.

“The beginning of the workshop was giving them a context of some of the factors involved around land acquisition in Ohio,” Pettibone said. “And some background on the different leasing and purchasing structures that exist, because there are quite a few.”

The second portion of the workshop emphasizes how the individuals look at themselves as farmers. Participants were provided a worksheet to brainstorm their qualifications and how they would like to talk about themselves, including some things that they think are important about themselves.

‘It’s a profile about what they feel a typical landowner might tend to be and some context that tends to come from some of their needs,” Pettibone said.

In addition to the legalities involved in trying to achieve their farm dream, other topics included: Bridging the Culture and Experience Gap, How to Stand Out, Types of Leases and Sales Agreements, Features of a Secure Lease, Creative Agreements, and Your Farmer Profile.

The workshop provides roleplay opportunities and links for helpful programs, helpful legal structures, and how to assemble a professional team. “We have a breakout time for people to work in groups and get practice talking about their qualifications or if they choose they could do a mock interview,” Pettibone said.

The Pitching Your Farm Dream workshop is part of the annual OEFFA Conference in February.

Created through House Bill 95 and signed into law on April 21, 2022, the Beginner Farmer Tax Credit Program offers beginning farmers who attend a financial management program a tax credit for the cost of attending an approved farm financial management program.

OSU’s Farm On course complies with the regulations of House Bill 95, and it also meets the borrower training requirements for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Loan Program. The on-demand self-paced course is designed to meet the needs of busy farmers and ranchers.

Eric Richer, assistant professor and OSU Extension field specialist in farm management, and lead instructor for the Farm On provided details about the course on the Ohio Farm Bureau Podcast. The program was hosted by Ty Higgins, Ohio Farm Bureau senior director of communications and media relations.

“There is that business aspect of getting a farm started, that’s where Farm On comes in to help these beginning farmers understand that the business aspect it,” Richer said. “In order for a generation to farm on or to carry on their farm’s legacy into another generation there’s a tremendous amount of business acumen that a farmer has to have.”

Farm On incorporates multiple video lessons, 10 quizzes, 10 exercises, individual and group consultations, and a 10-module course that covers the following topics:

• Farm Business Planning

• Balance Sheets

• Income Statements

• Cash Flow Projections

• Calculating Cost of Production

• Farm Record Keeping

• Farm Taxes

• Farm Financing

• Risk Management

• Farm Business Analysis

“We cap off the course kind of with this holistic put your farm business plan together and do some case studies on farm business analysis, some stress test if you will,” Richer said.

The USDA Beginning Farmer/Rancher Loan Program and Ohio House Bill 95 require documents to be submitted by a new and beginning farmer. “The course helps an individual when they’re done with it,” Richer said. “They have their balance sheet, they have a cost projection, the cost of production estimate and some of those things are required by the USDA and the Ohio Department of Agriculture.”

CFAES intended the course to be practical and convenient. “Farmers are busy and beginning farmers are even busier,” Richer said. “They’re trying to start up a business and get things to where they’re going to be sustainable for years to come.”

Even though the course is virtual and self-paced, once someone enrolls there is a deadline to complete the course. “You sign up for the course through Ohio State’s ScarletCanvas platform and we want the enrollees to complete the course in 180 days,” Richer said. “If you want to knock out two modules tonight after work, or if you’re going to do one module each weekend from here until you’re finished, that’s, that’s your decision.”

The Farm On course costs $300 per person.