in
Maryland
Jennifer Rhodes &
Shannon Dill
Agriculture and Natural Resource
Extension Educators
Wes Musser
Professor & Extension Specialist,
Farm Management
Ag in Maryland?
Eastern Shore
of MD
Agriculture in Maryland
#1 Ag Industry - Poultry
Chesapeake
College
Chesapeake College
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Characteristics of Fall Credit Students
Enrollment Fall 2,620
Full-time 947 36%
Age Average age 26
Residence Caroline County 22% Dorchester County 19% Kent
County8% Queen Anne's County26% Talbot County22% Other3%
Characteristics of Continuing Education and Workforce
Training Students, FY 2007
The College provides customized training for regional businesses
and industries, and the Upper Shore Workforce Investment Board,
preparation for occupational certification, apprenticeship-related
courses, vocationally-related courses, and a wide variety of other
non-credit courses.
Total registrations 16,067
Gender Male 31% Female 69%
Ethnicity Minorities account for 23% of unduplicated students.
Age Average age 46
Registration
• Wednesdays Jan 16 – March 5, 2008 (2
days in computer lab Feb 6 and Feb 13)
• (1 day is snow day)
• Chesapeake College Economic
Development Center
• 6-9pm $25.00 per person
• Includes Dinner and All Materials
• For registration information contact Jenny
Rhodes jrhodes@umd.edu 410-758-0166
or Shannon Dill sdill@umd.edu 410-8221244.
Cost
ANNIE’S PROJECT Cost Breakdown
Chesapeake College –
$2,308.50
USB Drives / UMD logo
99.75
Binders, tent cards, name tags, etc.
246.76
FAST Tools CD
168.00
Administrative costs for
Talbot Co and Queen Anne Co MCE
@400.00 each
$ 800.00
TOTAL
$4,023.01
Advertising
• Ag Newsletter
• Local Cable TV
– 14,000 people
• Delmarva Farmer
– Feature Article
• Local Newspapers
• Lancaster Farmer (PA)
• One on one
Class Participants
• Age 20 – 75 years
• Counties – Cecil, Kent, Queen
Anne’s, Talbot & Caroline
• Grain, corn, soybeans, wheat barley,
sweet corn, peas, green beans,
popcorn, hay, straw, wine grapes,
dairy, beef, equine, poultry, organic,
vegetables, ag professionals
January 16
Session One
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Introductions
Class Survey
Balancing Farm Work and Life
Jean Austin, Family & Consumer Science
Educator
• Time management, communication practices and
decision making, learn the best practices for
these everyday tasks that help us achieve our
desired end results. Farms, families and
management tasks can be a great deal of work.
This session will help you focus your energy in
the right direction.
Class Participants
Survey
NAME:
FARM NAME/BUSINESS:
ADDRESS:
PHONE
EMAIL:
Do you own a farm?
If Yes:
How many acres?

Yes
 No
What crops/livestock do you grow?
How many years have you been farming?
Form of Business: Sole-owner
Other_______
If No:
What are you farm interests?
Partnership
Are you interested in owning or leasing?
Did you grow up on a farm?
If Yes:
How many acres?

Yes
 No
What kind of Farm Enterprise?
If No:
What interests you in agriculture production?
Corp
LLC
Survey
What was your purpose for taking the course? (check all that apply)
 Want to start a business
 Want to learn more about business management skills
 Want to buy a small farm
 Have a small farm
 Want to start a new hobby
Other_______________________________
What topics interest you most about the course? (list all that apply)
What is your number one concern about the farm business?
Is there any specific information you would like addressed in this class?
How did you hear about this course?
The final session of Annie’s Project the class decides on a topic to cover please list your
top 5 topics. These can be ones already covered but go more indepth or anything
new.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
January 23
Session Two
Crop Insurance
Kathi Levan, Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit
Purchasing a crop insurance policy is one risk management option that farm
businesses cannot ignore. This session will focus on available policies,
coverage levels and how a policy will work in conjunction with other risk
management strategies.
Understanding your Farm Insurance Policy
Jackie Blake, Nationwide Insurance
Farming can be a risky business therefore farms should take measures to
protect themselves. This session will focus on insurance topics and policy
information regarding liability protection and risk management. It will
also suggest points to ponder including off premises and ATV as well as
production liability insurance, agri-tourism enterprises and equine
operations.
Group Activity
Developing Farm Risk Management Strategies
Wesley Musser, University of Maryland
This session will identify how the five areas of farm risk--- Production, Market,
Financial, Legal, and Human Resources---affect farms. The strategies to
manage each of these risks will also be introduced. We will then discuss
which risks are more important to your farm and how to identify and
manage risk.
Crop & Farm Insurance
Kathi Levan
MidAtlantic Farm Credit
Jackie Blake
Nationwide Insurance
Risks That Farmers Face
Dr. Wes Musser,
Professor & Extension
Specialist, Farm
Management,
Agriculture &
Resource Economics
University of Maryland
Identifying the five
areas of farm risk
January 30
Session Three
How Property is Titled: Who Else is in business with you?
Lori Lynch – University of Maryland
We will discuss the different forms of ownership or property titling that impacts the rights
of each and every person: Sole Proprietor, Joint Tenancy; Rights of Survivorship;
incorporation versus Partnership. Some issues related to passing on the farm and
estate tax will also be investigated.
Cash and Crop Share Leases
Lori Lynch – University of Maryland
How does one set a "fair" lease and how often should it be renegotiated? Benefits and
drawbacks of sharing risk with one's tenants and one's landlord. What are the
impacts for taxes, eligibility and payment of government programs and cost-share as
well as other considerations.
Group Activity
Business Planning
Shannon Dill, Agriculture Educator
Planning is essential to any business, no matter how large or small your inventory, payroll
and bank account. To be successful a farm operation must know its current status
and future plans. Having these plans mentally is not enough! Taking time to
formulate thoughts, evaluate your business, devise a strategy, and anticipate possible
problems will help your business be successful.
Developing Grain Marketing Plans
Jenny Rhodes, Extension Educator will teach you how to develop a solid grain marketing
plan for your farming operation. Emotions can affect your marketing decisions.
Adding just 10 cents to your bottom line could increase your net income by 3350%. This grain marketing plan session will include costs of production, knowing
where to start marketing, financial goals, crop insurance coverage, storage capacity,
projected production, and pricing tools.
Property, Leases,
Business Planning
Lori Lynch
Associate Professor &
Extension Specialist, Land Policy
Shannon Dill
Agriculture Extension Educator
February 6
Session Four
Computer Basics and Minimizing TechnologyRelated Risk
Nan Stenzel, Regional IT Coordinator
Computer technology provides many benefits to
business/farm operations; however, there are
also many risks. This session will be hands-on in
the computer lab. Learn about computer basics,
internet access options, online security, and
securing your data. We will also cover basic
spreadsheet operations using Microsoft Excel.
Computer Lab
Nan Stenzel, IT
Eastern Regional,
University of Maryland
Hands on
experience!
Price less!
Surprise Celebrations!
Celebrating
25th birthday
Didn’t want to
miss class….
Mother and daughter in law
February 13
Session Five
Computers and Your Farm Business
Jenny Rhodes and Shannon Dill, Extension
Educators
Computers can increase farm efficiency by
managing financial and production
records. This session will help you apply
Excel, QuickBooks and FastTools to your
farm business. Learn how to set up Excel
spreadsheets to maintain records.
Nutrient Management excel spreadsheets.
Practice with QuickBooks financial
software and FastTools decision making
software to improved your farm business
Group Activities
Assessing
risk on
the
farm
Dinner and
interaction
time
February 20
Session Six
Financial Documents
Laurie Wolinksi, Extension Associate, Risk Management
Keeping good, updated financial records is a necessary business
practice. During this session, participants will learn what
information is included on a balance sheet, an income
statement, and a cash flow statement. Participants will also
learn how to interpret those financial documents as well as how
to use that information when making business decisions.
Group Activity
Retirement & Estate Planning
Wesley Musser, University of Maryland
Farms often involve several generations. Identifying the steps to
plan for retirement and passing ownership of the business to
younger generations are important decisions. This session will
introduce these plans on your farm by going through the steps
and parts of retirement and estate planning. Wills, trusts,
social security, farm rent will be discussed. After this session,
you will be able to begin planning activities on your farm.
Financial Documents
Estate Planning
Laurie Wolinski
University of Delaware
Wesley Musser
University of Maryland
February 27
Session Seven
Class’s Chosen Topics
Maryland Ag Land Preservation
Donna Landis-Smith, Queen Anne’s County Economic
Development & Agriculture
Land preservation is a concern of many farmers. During this
session, participants will learn what programs are available
to permanently preserve their farms for future generations
Effective Communication with Family: Farm Estate
Planning
Crystal Terhune, Caroline County Family & Consumer Science
Educator, University of Maryland Cooperative Extension
Estate planning begins with effective communication with
family members. During this session, participants will
understand the importance communication, increase their
knowledge of communication strategies and apply this
information to their farm estate planning.
Course Wrap-Up
Graduation
Land Preservation &
Communication
Donna LandisSmith, Economic
Development & Ag
Crystal Terhune,
MCE FCS
Empowered!
Graduation
• Attending
– Educators
– Director of Extension
– Regional Director of Extension
– AGNR program leader
Annie’s Class Graduation
Photo
March 5
SNOW DATE
Developing Grain Marketing Plans
Jenny Rhodes, Extension Educator will teach you
how develop a solid grain marketing plan for your
farming operation. Emotions can affect your
marketing decisions. Adding just 10 cents to your
bottom line could increase your net income by 3350%. This grain marketing plan session will
include costs of production, knowing where to
start marketing, financial goals, crop insurance
coverage, storage capacity, projected production,
and pricing tools.
Winning the Game Pre-harvest Marketing
Jenny Rhodes, Extension Educator
Shannon Dill, Extension Educator
Evaluations
Following this course will you:
Get/change your insurance
policy 75%)
YES MAYBE NO N/A
9
3
4
Change lease or property titles
(54%)
5
3
Write a farm
business/marketing plan(93%)
7
6
1
Use computers and software to
improve your farm efficiency
(93%)
14
1
1
Check your credit report (93%)
15
Complete Farm Financial
14
2
11
2
Statements (100%)
Create/update your estate plan
(81%)
6
1
1
1
2
Evaluations
How would you rate the class overall
2 = good 14 = excellent
. Indicate one or two main things you learned or gained from this course.
People
Estate Planning (6)
- Record keeping
- Grain Marketing
- Crop Insurance (3)
- Better understanding
- Before I had no idea about any of it
- Insurance (3)
- Options and needs for farm insurance
- Meeting others in the same “boat”
- Planning and organizing will help you succeed in your farm business
- Everything, I didn’t really know that much
- Great handouts and resources
- Computer spreadsheets
- I learned I should focus my planning
7. Would you be interested in any advanced Farm Management Courses or follow-up sessions?
__16___ Yes _____ No
If so, list topics:
- Marketing
- Preparing for retirement, living in retirement
- Beef Value options
- Livestock management
- Don’t know yet – have to apply what I have just learned first
- QuickBooks
- Insurance
- Property Titles
Evaluations
We need good quotes! In your own words what was the best part of this course
- Gave Farm Power to Women!
- Annie’s project offered me the chance to grow in my ability to understand our
farming operation.
- All of it! Thank you ! Very Well organized and presented!
- Jenny and Shannon did an excellent job of setting up the course and keeping us
interested
- The most informative and inspiring class I have ever taken!
- Next year you should give out tote bags to carry our loot!
- Brings sense to the complexity of farm business
- Making friends
- Overall I learned so much I feel empowered to run a farm business
- All of it was good. There wasn’t a day I didn’t learn something
- The best part of this course was knowing that there were no dumb questions.
Jenny and Shannon worked very hard to educate us without allowing us to feel
inadequate. Different points of views were shared which gave each of us insight
into areas we had not considered.
- It was stimulating to hear the other women’s stories about how they managed
their problems and to hear the way the various presenters offered alternative
ways.
- Handouts were very good
- Meeting other farm women and learning together from Annie’s Project but most
of all realizing that we were privileged to be part of the concept that finally farm
women have been empowered.
Thank you note
March 7, 2008
Dear Jenny
I just wanted to thank you for all your efforts inputting
together Annie’s Project for us farm women. For decades
we have been on the “back burner” & it was so nice to be
able to meet with other farm women and to be
acknowledged for what we do. We have inherited our jobs
with little or no training and the information you
provide us with be extremely helpful for many year to
come! You and Shannon are to be commended for your
outstanding organization and presentations!
I certainly hope that this project will be on going in the
future. The are many more women in this area who
would greatly benefit from it and who would be eager to
attend.
We are very fortunate to have both of you ladies serving as
Ag agents. You provide a wealth of information to the
farmers in this area and are an inspiration for all
women. We are very grateful & proud of what you do.
Again, I can’t thank you enough for my experience in this
class. The food each week was such a special treat, too!
Sincerely,
Bobbie
Thank you
Questions