Farm Credit is proud to announce the recent launch of the National Young Farmers Coalition’s (NYFC) Finding Farmland Calculator, an innovative new decision-making tool built specifically for farmers seeking land.
The calculator enables farmers to better understand farm finance, determine what they may afford, and prepare to work with a lender. Young, beginning and small farmers may input the cost of land they are considering buying into the calculator and compare financing options. The calculator also allows farmers to download their financial information to have on hand when meeting with a loan officer.
Farm Credit’s Gary Matteson traveled to Saint Louis, Mo., for Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education’s (SARE) “Our Farms, Our Future” 30th Anniversary gathering to celebrate the unveiling of the calculator. Matteson shared the story of how Farm Credit of the Virginias supported Calvin Riggleman, a farmer veteran with a small, direct-to-consumer operation, to grow his farm business by purchasing additional land. The launch of the interactive Finding Farmland Calculator will help farmers like Calvin all over the country better understand their own businesses, create strong business plans and potentially scale up their own operations.
Chris Laughton of Farm Credit East has been involved with the creation of the Finding Farmland Calculator since the initial planning stages. Laughton shared, “NYFC did an admirable job taking recommendations from a diverse advisory panel into account while creating this tool. The end product is excellent. It is quite useful for someone relatively new to agriculture who is trying to evaluate different land tenure scenarios to see what might be best for them.”
Holly Rippon-Butler, the NYFC Land Access Program Director, shared that within a week of the calculator’s launch 2,200 unique users had already taken advantage of this interactive and reliable tool.
In the days following the launch, NYFC has continued to receive positive feedback about the calculator from both farmers and lenders. Kayla Kniepmann, Vice President of Crop Insurance from Farm Credit Illinois, said, “I love the new calculator and all the features to analyze different scenarios! Kudos to those involved in the creation of it.”
