Minnesota Beginning Farmer Institute
Agricultural Economics & Community Development
Nathan Hulinsky
Extension Educator, Ag Business Management
University of Minnesota Extension
Brainerd
Abstract
The University of Minnesota Extension Agricultural Business Management team hosted six separate Beginner Farmer Education Workshop sites, each site had either three or four separate workshops for a total of 22 workshops across Minnesota, with a total attendance of 221 unique participants. The six separate sites were Lamberton in Southwest Minnesota, Owatonna in Southeast Minnesota, Clearwater in Central Minnesota, Carlton in Northeast Minnesota, Hutchinson in Central Minnesota, and an Online webinar with people from all over Minnesota. There was an average of 15 people for each in-person workshop and 42 for each webinar session, the same participants attended all three or four sessions per site.
Each site had three or four separate workshops that were tied together; the same participants attended all three or four workshops per site. The topics were Business Planning and goals, Financial Statements and record Keeping, Agricultural Taxes and business Entities, and Land Rent and Grain Marketing.
The main takeaway points were businesses need to know their goals and write them down with a business plan; understanding financial statements and what a lender requires when requesting a loan; what are business deductions and tax brackets; and the importance of knowing your cost of production and having a marketing plan. Our goal was to promote better internal decision-making skills and foster stronger relationships with internal and external partners.
This presentation will go over the evaluation data and results of this workshop series. I will discuss the planning that went into creating and hosting this workshop series. I will discuss my next steps and what I want to do with this workshop moving forward.
Authors: Nathan Hulinsky
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Nathan Hulinsky Extension Educator, Ag Business Management, University of Minnesota, Minnesota, 56401