Training for Farmers

Producer Academy Courses

We offer college-level, online courses designed with our farmer and rancher students in mind. Our courses will give you the skills you need to take your business to the next level. 

Ag Biz Basics

Training Type: Online

Ag Biz Basics will assist you in launching, growing, managing and transitioning your business with a greater opportunity for success!

Whether you are an aspiring agri-entrepreneur, transitioning into a business as a family member or partner, or you desire to reconnect with agriculture and the land, Ag Biz Basics is for you. This program balances the passion of farming and ranching with the economic and financial side of running a business.

Ag Biz Basics is a fast-paced online program designed not only to prepare you for meetings with your lender, but also to position your agricultural business for success. In a nutshell, this hands-on program allows you to establish written goals and get your financial business documentation in order including a projected cash flow statement, updated balance sheet, and a cash income statement. Along the way, you will be introduced to a few key financial ratios that can provide guidance concerning financial performance.

Ag Biz Basics contains four learning modules:

1. Side by Side with your Lender – Financial Documentation, Planning & Goal Setting
2. Do You Cash Flow? Cash Flow Planning – putting your production plan in numbers
3. What are You Worth Financially? Business and Personal Balance Sheets
4. Did You Make a Profit? Income Statement

To illustrate the applications, Ag Biz Basics highlights a case study involving entrepreneurs operating a start-up agribusiness who are applying for a loan with Farm Credit. In addition, the workbook with application exercises will be instrumental in developing basic customized goals and financial statements for your business. The goal is to assist you in launching, growing, managing or transitioning your business with a greater opportunity for success. The program is designed to enhance your critical thinking, strategic planning, and contingency planning skills, and attention to detail.

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Ag Biz Planner

Training Type: Online

Ag Biz Planner guides farmers and ranchers through the process of developing a business plan and working with agricultural lenders.

This college-level course is available nationwide in an online training format for farmers to use from their home or place of business. Farm Credit University is making this program widely available to serve Farm Credit’s mission to help prepare young, beginning, small and minority (YBSM) farmers and ranchers for a more successful and fulfilling business, family and personal life by improving their management and business planning skills.

The Ag Biz Planner course helps farmers and those living a rural lifestyle create a successful business plan and strengthen communication with their lender.

The course includes:

• Ten online eLearning modules with multiple choice quizzes
• "Connect" discussion forum
• Business plan preparation resources

Ten eLearning Modules:

1. Megatrends of Agriculture
2. Strategic Business Planning
3. Preparing for Your Lender
4. Constructing a Balance Sheet
5. Constructing an Income Statement and Cash Flow Projections
6. Understanding Lending Decisions
7. Farm Business Management Factors and Benchmarks
8. Growth and Transition Management
9. Personal Financial Management
10. Communications, Ethics and Leadership

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Farm Business Transition Workbook

Training Type: Online

Transition planning is the process of transferring the ownership and management responsibilities of a family farm or business so that it can succeed and thrive into the future. This process is typically overlooked because the day-to-day operations of the business take precedence over long-term planning. It can also be hampered by family relationships and a lack of communication among all the generations. But one thing is clear: Transition planning is very important in helping the business and family members achieve their goals for the future. You need to ask yourself a question:

What is more important – managing the day-to-day operations of your business or planning for the future of your family and business?

Families often tend to procrastinate on planning for the future because there are a lot of moving parts involved, and choosing a starting point can be difficult. This workbook and worksheets are intended to give you a structure for starting to think about your goals for your family and operation. Hopefully, it will help start the conversation about transition planning among all of the parties involved – family and non-family. And, if nothing else, it will help put some of your thoughts in writing to kick-start the process.

This curriculum does not take the place of working with professionals (attorneys, financial professionals, accountants, etc.) in the transition planning process. Rather, it is intended to help you gather your thoughts and necessary information so that you can work more effectively with professionals.

The Farm Business Transition Workbook is a 60 page PDF document. An Excel file containing accompanying spreadsheets is also available for download.

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