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NORTH DAKOTA FARM/RANCH TRANSITION PLANNING; Program Design, Implementation and Impact

Willie Huot

Summary

Since 2006, over 1000 women have participated in the ND Annie’s Project. The success of this program has led to a “tier II” program that focuses on Farm/Ranch Transition Planning education. Initiated in March, 2010, the programs have been conducted five times throughout the state of ND in over 30 locations. Total participation to date has been approximately 600. The overall objectives of this program focus primarily on improving communication skills, increasing knowledge of many effective transition strategies and empowerment of participants to work more effectively with professionals in the development of transition plans.

A state project coordinator provides leadership for the planning, delivery and evaluation of this program. All staff members involved are expected to participate in at least one of the two in-service sessions offered each year to plan and deliver this program. One planning sessions is typically held in the spring and the other in the fall. The program is funded primarily by registration fees.

Program delivery has been a combination of Interactive Video Network presentations combined with local presenters at each site. The sessions are offered in a three part series with each session three hours long. The sessions focus primarily on improving communication skills, pros and cons of various farm/ranch business arrangements and tax consequences of different types of transfer strategies.

Overall evaluations reveal that about 92 – 96 % of participants have increased their knowledge of transition planning issues and improved their confidence to develop/improve an existing transition plan for their farm /ranch business.

Details

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