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Conference Name Building Farm and Ranch Resiliency in the Age of Financial Uncertainty

Jim Jansen and Allan Vyhnalek

Summary

The “Building Farm and Ranch Resiliency in the Age of Financial Uncertainty” meeting series provides outreach to extension clientele focusing on the financial resiliency necessary for agricultural operations in Nebraska to sustain risk associated with the current business climate. Funding in 2021 by the North Central Extension Risk Management Education Center allowed this program to be delivered across 17 meeting sites in Nebraska with over 200 people in attendance representing diverse operations across the state.

The program curriculum focused on addressing financial resiliency strategies including: improving and strengthening financial decisions impacting agricultural land; enhancing operation succession and methods for mitigating unexpected legal risk; and approaches for integrating USDA farm programs and loan options for reducing uncertainty and improving financial stability of operations. Effective financial decision making addresses the skills necessary for improving the overall business position during periods of business shocks. Furthermore, addressing critical elements of succession and related risk better positions the long-term trajectory of farms and ranches for the next generation. Management practices discussed as part of the meeting series focused on improving the understanding of USDA farm programs or loan options which assist in sustaining the economic viability of operations to better tolerate financial volatility and economic uncertainty.

To determine the effectiveness of this outreach program, an end of meeting evaluation (n = 158) was presented to those in attendance. From these evaluations: 95.5% of participants rated the quality of the presentation as good to very good, 67.2% of participants planned to implement strategic decision making to improve their financial resiliency, and 51.9% indicated the desire to evaluate land succession plans to improve transition options involving the next generation within the next six months to one year.

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