The NDSU Extension Service has scheduled a training program for persons interested in becoming a certified farm succession coordinator for Aug. 11-13 at Richard H. Barry Hall.
The training is specifically for agricultural professionals, service providers and organizational leaders who work with retiring farmers and ranchers on farm transfer issues, including attorneys, estate planners, accountants, tax planners, agricultural lenders, adult farm management instructors, financial advisers, retirement planners and others who will work with farmers and ranchers as they transfer their business to the next generation.
"We are at a pivotal period in American agriculture, with more than 70 percent of U.S. farms set to transition during the next 15 years and more than 400 million acres of farmland expected to change hands during this time," said Ashley Ueckert, an Extension agent from Golden Valley County who helped coordinate the training. "The economic future of our nation's agriculture depends on next-generation farmers and ranchers' ability to access land and agricultural enterprise."
John Baker, an attorney with the International Farming Transition Network and administrator of the Beginning Farmer Center at Iowa State University, is one of the presenters for the training.
Other presenters are David Ripplinger, NDSU assistant professor of agribusiness and applied economics; Russ Tweiten, agribusiness consultant for AgCountry Farm Credit Services; and Kiley Mars, a human resource development specialist from Des Moines, Iowa.
NDSU Extension is offering the program as a next step to strengthen its Design Your Succession Plan educational programming offered to producers.
"By hosting this training, NDSU Extension is creating a network of professionals who will be trained to assist the families as they work through issues and conflicts while still providing the services they traditionally would," Ueckert said.
This is the first time the three-day certification training has been offered in North Dakota. Participants who complete the training and a case study assigned following the course will be designated as certified succession coordinators.
The NDSU Extension Service will maintain a list of professionals with the certification and will share the information with farm and ranch families across the state.
AgCountry Farm Credit Services is co-sponsoring the training program.
The registration fee is $750 if paid by July 27. After that, the fee is $850. Registration is limited to the first 30 professionals who sign up.
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