University of Minnesota TC: M

For Red River Valley farmers, Project Farm Wrap helps ease transitions
Bad weather, low prices, and wheat scab conspired to give Red River Valley farmer Lane Loeslie three bad years in a row in the early 1990s.

After 20 years of farming near Warren, Minnesota, Loeslie and his wife, Diane, faced a life-changing decision for themselves and their four children. "At that point, I wasn’t enjoying it anymore," he recalls. "So I thought rather than risk what headway we had made over the years, I would try to save some of our equity."

Several years later, both Lane and Diane Loeslie hold bachelor’s degrees from the University of Minnesota, Crookston, (UMC) and have completed the transition to life outside of farm work. "It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t something I wanted to do," Lane Loeslie says. "Leaving farming is a tough decision, but it has had some very positive effects on our family as well. It is really pretty common, even at age 40, for people to change occupations. That’s how I choose to look at it."

The Loeslies were fortunate to find their way to advisors who helped them plan their transition off the farm. Others are not nearly so lucky, and that’s where Project Farm Wrap comes in. A program run through the UMC Department of Outreach and Continuing Education, the University of Minnesota Extension Service, and with the support of more than two dozen other organizations, Farm Wrap brings support to farm families facing crises.

The program refers farm families to professionals who offer legal and tax advice, farm business management training, family and crisis counseling, and career and educational assessment. "We are about helping farm families explore, identify, and find their own options," says Barbara Muesing, UMC’s director of outreach. "We’re not telling them that this or that is what you need to do. We help them analyze the situation. If it comes down to needing to leave farming, the decision comes when there is still some choice about it, rather than when they get so far down the road that the decision is made for them."

"Crookston has always had a high percentage of non-traditional students," Muesing says. "The staff are very sensitive to the needs of the people there and ready to be flexible. We really want them to feel supported. You can imagine what it’s like to go back to college after so many years on the farm."

Lane Loeslie says support and planning help are vital. "It’s really essential, if you are going to go out of farming, that you plan a couple of years ahead of time," he says, citing tax planning as the main obstacle. "If you get to the point where your creditors tell you, ‘you are going to have an auction sale here next month,’ then you just don’t have any time to do planning." Without time, he says, destitute farmers can find themselves in the paradoxical situation of owing large tax bills on the sale of equipment that went to pay off creditors.

The Loeslies were able to avoid those pitfalls, and both had careers they knew they would like to explore. Diane had put in a year of school at a technical college and Lane had completed a farm business management series and gone to UMC for a quarter in 1989. UMC staff were able to help them gain credit for the work they had already done, think about which program to go into, and, most important, explore how to pay for returning to school. There are not special funds currently targeted towards former farmers, but regular financial aid offerings, retraining money, and part-time work helped the Loeslies both get back into school. And they were able to keep the land they had worked for two decades to own, which they now have placed in the state’s Conservation Reserve Program.

One of Lane Loeslie’s jobs was as UMC’s campus coordinator for Farm Wrap last summer. In that role he would help refer farmers to legal, financial, and counseling professionals in the area who have agreed to work for 75 percent of their usual fee. "The program is available to [farm families] with a zero or negative cash flow," he says. "That’s not a very high standard in the Red River Valley right now."

But mainly Loeslie would help those thinking of leaving farming look at educational options available at northwestern Minnesota’s various colleges. As a student he picked up credits at Northland Community College in Thief River Falls and at East Grand Forks Technical College. "They offer programs that Crookston doesn’t," he says. "We really try know what everyone offers and not to be partial to UMC."

The Loeslies are just two of more than two dozen former farmers who have earned degrees through Crookston. Diane works in information management at a medical center and Lane works as a program specialist with the Agricultural Utilization and Research Institute, a nonprofit that fosters innovative ways to improve Minnesota’s rural economy. Others are in everything business management to Web pages design. "Farmers will say ‘I don’t know how to do anything but farm,’ " says Muesing. "But every farmer is also a business manager, a welder, repairs equipment and buildings, works with computers. They have all kinds of skills employers value."

To find out more about Project Farm Wrap, visit outreach.crk.umn.edu/farmwrap/ or call (218) 683-7030.

—Chris Coughlan-Smith



	Outreach For Red River Valley farmers, Project Farm Wrap helps ease transitions Bad weather, low prices, and wheat scab conspired to give Red River Valley farmer Lane Loeslie three bad years in a row in the early 1990s. After 20 years of farming near Warren, Minnesota, Loeslie and his wife, Diane, faced a life-changing decision for themselves and their four children. "At that point, I wasn’t enjoying it anymore," he recalls. "So I thought rather than risk what headway we had made over the years, I would try to save some of our equity." Several years later, both Lane and Diane Loeslie hold bachelor’s degrees from the University of Minnesota, Crookston, (UMC) and have completed the transition to life outside of farm work. "It wasn’t easy. It wasn’t something I wanted to do," Lane Loeslie says. "Leaving farming is a tough decision, but it has had some very positive effects on our family as well. It is really pretty common, even at age 40, for people to change occupations. That’s how I choose to look at it." The Loeslies were fortunate to find their way to advisors who helped them plan their transition off the farm. Others are not nearly so lucky, and that’s where Project Farm Wrap comes in. A program run through the UMC Department of Outreach and Continuing Education, the University of Minnesota Extension Service, and with the support of more than two dozen other organizations, Farm Wrap brings support to farm families facing crises. The program refers farm families to professionals who offer legal and tax advice, farm business management training, family and crisis counseling, and career and educational assessment. "We are about helping farm families explore, identify, and find their own options," says Barbara Muesing, UMC’s director of outreach. "We’re not telling them that this or that is what you need to do. We help them analyze the situation. If it comes down to needing to leave farming, the decision comes when there is still some choice about it, rather than when they get so far down the road that the decision is made for them." "Crookston has always had a high percentage of non-traditional students," Muesing says. "The staff are very sensitive to the needs of the people there and ready to be flexible. We really want them to feel supported. You can imagine what it’s like to go back to college after so many years on the farm." Lane Loeslie says support and planning help are vital. "It’s really essential, if you are going to go out of farming, that you plan a couple of years ahead of time," he says, citing tax planning as the main obstacle. "If you get to the point where your creditors tell you, ‘you are going to have an auction sale here next month,’ then you just don’t have any time to do planning." Without time, he says, destitute farmers can find themselves in the paradoxical situation of owing large tax bills on the sale of equipment that went to pay off creditors. The Loeslies were able to avoid those pitfalls, and both had careers they knew they would like to explore. Diane had put in a year of school at a technical college and Lane had completed a farm business management series and gone to UMC for a quarter in 1989. UMC staff were able to help them gain credit for the work they had already done, think about which program to go into, and, most important, explore how to pay for returning to school. There are not special funds currently targeted towards former farmers, but regular financial aid offerings, retraining money, and part-time work helped the Loeslies both get back into school. And they were able to keep the land they had worked for two decades to own, which they now have placed in the state’s Conservation Reserve Program. One of Lane Loeslie’s jobs was as UMC’s campus coordinator for Farm Wrap last summer. In that role he would help refer farmers to legal, financial, and counseling professionals in the area who have agreed to work for 75 percent of their usual fee. "The program is available to [farm families] with a zero or negative cash flow," he says. "That’s not a very high standard in the Red River Valley right now." But mainly Loeslie would help those thinking of leaving farming look at educational options available at northwestern Minnesota’s various colleges. As a student he picked up credits at Northland Community College in Thief River Falls and at East Grand Forks Technical College. "They offer programs that Crookston doesn’t," he says. "We really try know what everyone offers and not to be partial to UMC." The Loeslies are just two of more than two dozen former farmers who have earned degrees through Crookston. Diane works in information management at a medical center and Lane works as a program specialist with the Agricultural Utilization and Research Institute, a nonprofit that fosters innovative ways to improve Minnesota’s rural economy. Others are in everything business management to Web pages design. "Farmers will say ‘I don’t know how to do anything but farm,’ " says Muesing. "But every farmer is also a business manager, a welder, repairs equipment and buildings, works with computers. They have all kinds of skills employers value." To find out more about Project Farm Wrap, visit outreach.crk.umn.edu/farmwrap/ or call (218) 683-7030. —Chris Coughlan-Smith