2013 Pre and Post-Course Program Evaluation Results for
Managing for Today and Tomorrow: Farm Transition Planning Course for Farm and Ranch Women
In calendar year 2013, there were 18 fifteen-hour Managing for Today and Tomorrow courses taught in
9 states; DE, IA, IL, IN, MD, MI, MS, ND and OH. Participating in the transition planning courses were 167
farm and ranch women. This summary of evaluation results is divided into three components: precourse survey results, post-course survey results, and a comparison of both showing changes in
knowledge and behavior.
Pre-Course Survey Results
There were 136 farm and ranch women who responded to the pre-course survey. They were asked to
tell us one to three things they most wanted to learn about. The results show 45.3% of question
respondents listed a business planning topic, 58.1% listed an estate planning topic, 26.5% listed a
retirement planning topic, and 44.4% listed a succession planning topic. Survey answers included the
following.
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Better business planning practices: better financial/record keeping practices…
How to set up trusts; how to title property to be passed to heirs, how to minimize inheritance
taxes…
How to plan for succession and talk about it… retirement plans and… the combination of both.
…How to plan for succession with someone other than our child.
Most farm and ranch women had no concerns about participating in the courses. However, some
women expressed concern over their lack of knowledge, the uncertain role they have in the farm
business, or confidentiality.
Survey respondents indicated one in three (32.1%) had previously taken an Annie’s Project course. More
than half (55.9%) of participants heard about the program from the local extension office; 18.4% saw it
in the newspaper, 13.2% heard about it from a friend or relative, and 12.5% received a brochure in the
mail. Others found out about the course from Farm Credit, Farm Service Agency, bankers, radio,
magazines, television, email notices, Facebook, and websites.
Just over half (53.7%) of survey respondents were from Iowa.
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Nearly half (48.9%) of program participants operated farms or ranches from 180 to 999 acres. There
were 22.1% operating farms of 179 acres or less, and 29.0% operating farms of 1,000 acres or more. In
total, the participants operated 48,618 acres.
Overwhelmingly, participants had family or individual sole proprietorship (65.0%) and partnership
(11.4%) forms of business ownership. Only 21.4% of participants utilized family corporations and just
2.2% utilized trusts, cooperatives, estates or other forms of ownership.
There were 61.0% of participants who checked one or more livestock enterprises. Cattle and calves were
managed by about one-third (52) of survey respondents. Hogs and pigs; poultry and eggs; dairy from
cows; sheep and goats; and horses and donkeys were each managed by about one-tenth (11 to 14) of
survey respondents. Fish were managed by 3 participants.
There were 89.7% of participants who checked one or more crop enterprises. Grains and oil seeds like
corn, wheat, soybeans, oats, dry beans and dry peas; were managed by about four-fifths (111) of survey
respondents. Hay including alfalfa, clover, sorghum, and pastures were managed by just over one-third
(53) participants. While vegetables, melons, potatoes, and sweet potatoes; fruits and nuts; plus forest
products such as Christmas trees and maple syrup, were managed by about one-tenth (14) of survey
respondents.
There were 97 respondents answering the question about their farming intentions. Of these, 16.5% are
not currently farming or ranching but plan to start; 70.1% are currently farming or ranching and plan to
continue for the foreseeable future; and 13.4% are currently farming or ranching but plan to stop with
the next five years.
There were 90 respondents indicating their numbers of years farming or ranching. Of these, 17.8% had
10 or fewer years of experience; 63.3% had 11 to 40 years of experience; and 18.9% had 41 or more
years of experience.
There were 130 respondents providing their age range. Of these, 8.5% were 34 years old or less; 72.3%
were 35 to 64 years old; and 19.3% were 65 years old or more.
There were 104 respondents answering the racial or ethnic group question. Of these, 97.0% were
white/European; and 1.0% each where black/African American, Native American/Alaskan Native, or
Asian American/Pacific Islander.
Post-Course Survey Results
There were 121 farm and ranch women who responded to the post-course survey. They were asked to
tell us their highest priority goals for applying what they learned. The results show 21.9% of question
respondents listed a business planning goal, 33.3% listed an estate planning goal, 7.6% listed a
retirement planning goal, and 43.8% listed a succession planning goal. Survey answers included the
following.
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Use some of the business statements and ratios to determine our financial health….
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Estate planning, setting up power of attorney, new wills, and possibly a trust.
Include retirement planning. Get the discussion started with my husband and son and daughterin-law.
Further develop ways of communicating between my parents, brother and me about vision,
succession planning, and fairness… within the next 3 months.
Next, the survey respondents told us their second highest priority goals for applying what they learned.
The results show 36.5% listed a business planning goal, 21.9% listed an estate planning goal, 8.3% listed
a retirement planning goal, and 31.3% listed a succession planning goal. Survey answers included the
following.
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Writing a business plan.
Follow through and actually go to an attorney with all this information in hand…
Prepare for retirement with common goals, as well as separate goals.
Succession of the farm to the next generation.
Then we asked survey respondents to tell us one other goal they had for applying what they learned.
The results show 25.4% listed a business planning goal, 17.9% listed an estate planning goal, 20.9% listed
a retirement planning goal, and 28.4% listed a succession planning goal. Survey answers included the
following.
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Do a better job of keeping books up to date. Easier to run an analysis…
Make sure all our daughters’ questions are answered. Make funeral decisions…
Explore non-farm sources of retirement income.
Have a family meeting to discuss possible scenarios for farm succession and [the] estate.
Survey respondents were asked to tell us which topics where MOST important and valuable to them.
The top ten are below.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Estate planning tools, concepts and terminology.
Goal setting.
The big picture of transition planning.
Inheritance tax and the use of trusts.
Methods of asset transfer.
Improving family communications.
Ag Plan and business planning.
Communication barriers.
Transition planning flowchart or checklist.
Financial statement basics.
Survey respondents were also given an opportunity to tell us which topics were LEAST important or
valuable. The most commonly listed least important topics are below.
1. Retirement planning for someday was the least important or valuable topic.
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2.
3.
4.
5.
Strategies for reaching retirement goals.
Financial ratio analysis.
Types of insurance.
Communication barriers.
Nearly all survey respondents (99.4%) thought the Annie’s Project four core values were incorporated
into the courses. The results show 97.5% agreed guided intelligence to build on women’s natural
tendency to share, teach and learn with other women was incorporated, 100% agreed opportunities to
create connection to other farm and ranch women and to local professionals was incorporated; 100%
agreed discovery to help women make sense of topics through hands-on activities and discussion was
incorporated; and 100% agreed safe harbor to provide a comfortable and secure environment where all
questions are welcome was incorporated.
In addition, nearly all survey respondents (95.5%) agreed the Annie’s Project twelve key principles or
best education practices were incorporated into the courses. The results show 99.2% agreed this course
provided unbiased research based information based on local needs; 99.2% agreed local professionals
provided valuable information and/or resources; and 99.1% agreed the course provided a safe and
nurturing environment for learning. There were 97.6% question respondents who agreed the methods
used in the course were compatible to their learning style; 97.5% agreed they now feel prepared to take
steps to become a better farm or ranch business partner; and 94.9% agreed the course focused on
women’s roles in farming and ranching.
Participants were asked to tell us what they wanted to learn that wasn’t included in the course. The
results show 29.2% of question respondents commented the course covered everything they wanted;
while 12.3% simply wanted more, without being specific. There were 24.6% of survey respondents that
requested more about business planning; 21.5% requested more on estate planning; 7.7% requested
more on succession planning; and 1.5% requested more on retirement planning. Comments included
the following.
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…More focus on net value and preventing failure upon expansion.
The process of how people are actually transitioning, more examples.
More time for interaction with other women; discussion on how we as women [have different
roles] from men.
Conversation practice – difficult subjects.
Survey respondents were asked for any suggestions on improving this program. Several suggestions
were offered on the timing of the course including: offer more sessions but for shorter times, offer
related mini-courses, and make this training six sessions instead of five. Many comments were for more
or less on particular topics, but for every person requesting less on communications, for example, there
were others requesting more on communications. Quite a few respondents requested more examples:
one wrote, “I would have liked more examples and stories – that’s what I found so powerful and helpful
– it helped me see my family is not as unusual as I thought.” Some comments showed best education
practices may have been lacking in that location such as: if seating was more casual conversations could
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be more comfortable, not using so much lecture and having more examples, giving reading assignments
before class, and not jumping around on topics.
Others simply took the opportunity in this last question box to share their enthusiasm, including the
following comments.
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Having these tools for planning and having concrete concepts to discuss totally opened the
doors of communication.
[Name] did an absolutely fabulous job of being the lead teacher… her skills as an extension
educator are superb.
This was great. Love the book, lists and materials.
Fun group and relaxed atmosphere.
Well above my expectations.
Changes in Knowledge and Behavior
Farm and ranch women increased their knowledge of transition topics as demonstrated with pre-course
and post-course surveys. The pre and post surveys were matched with a unique identification code and
only complete matches were included in the analysis (i.e. the participant completed both pre- and postcourse surveys.) The knowledge questions were organized into constructs each including a group of four
questions relating to a particular farm transition topic; business planning, estate planning, retirement
planning, or succession planning. The graphs that follow summarize the frequencies for each topic. The
pre-post change in knowledge is statistically significant for each construct.
This change in evident with the charts below which show a consistent pattern in knowledge gained. The
majority of farm and ranch women ranked their knowledge levels lower at the beginning of the course
and higher at the end of the course. In the charts below, 1 = know little or nothing, 2 = know some, 3 =
know quite a bit, and 4 = know a great deal.
When looking at the first construct for business planning knowledge, the average ranking of the four
questions on this topic shows 29% of survey respondents ranked themselves as knowing little or nothing
in the pre-course survey. By the post-course survey, 0% of participants ranked themselves as knowing
little or nothing. At the other end of the spectrum on the topic of business planning, 2% of respondents
ranked themselves as knowing a great deal in the pre-course survey. By the post-course survey 19%
ranked themselves as knowing a great deal. Similar results can be seen for the other topics.
Chart 1. Business Planning Knowledge Change Pre-Post Course
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Chart 2. Estate Planning Knowledge Change Pre-Post Course
Chart 3. Retirement Planning Knowledge Change Pre-Post Course
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Chart 4. Succession Planning Knowledge Change Pre-Post Course
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