What is Minnesota FarmLink?
FarmLink is a free, online program that helps connect:
- retiring farmers and new farmers
- buyers and sellers
- renters and landlords
- employers and employees
How does it work?
Go to the FarmLink app where you can…
- Post and view job opportunities and potential employee credentials
- List and research farms and farmland for rent or sale
- Create an online account to add, edit, or delete your own listings
- Respond to opportunities you are interested in (at this point, your identity is kept private)
- Exchange contact information with the other person once you’re ready
Where can you get help?
Transfer & succession advisory teams
Get help designing your own farm business transition advisory team.
- Advisory teams can be useful at any stage in the process. They won’t tell you what to do, but can help you ask the right questions, evaluate your options, and navigate challenging situations.
- Teams might include a banker, accountant, tax professional, clergy person, ag mental health counselor, Extension educator, or friend of the family.
Contact:
- Email Jim Molenaar at jmolenaar6@gmail.com or reach out to Jim Ostlie, FarmLink Coordinator, at 320-444-1113 or jim.ostlie@state.mn.us.
Farmland giving programs for existing farmers & land owners
These planning and charitable giving options can be a great solution for those who want to ensure the long-term wellbeing of both their farmland and their local community.
Depending on where you live, contact one of these programs for more information:
- Northwest Initiative Foundation: Ag-Land Legacy
- Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation: Acres for Good
- Southwest Initiative Foundation: Keep It Growing
- West Central Initiative Foundation: Heartland Giving Farmland Stewardship
Other organizations
These organizations offer help and resources to support farms in transition:
- Farm Business Management: AgCentric, 218-894-5141, or Southern Minnesota Agricultural Center of Excellence, 507-389-7290
- Minnesota Dairy Initiative: 651-764-0309
- Minnesota Farm Advocates: 833-600-2670
- Minnesota Farm & Rural Helpline: (24/7), 833-600-2670
- Renewing the Countryside: Farmland Access Navigators, 612-910-7601
- University of Minnesota Extension: Nathan Hulinsky, 320-203-6104, or Dave Bau, 507-372-3900 ext. 3906
Does planning prepare you?
These stories show why planning matters...
Darrin (32) and Ned (67) started exploring farm transfer options because Darrin wanted to dairy farm and Ned wanted the dairy to continue even though his own children were not interested in taking over.
Darrin moved into a trailer house on the property. He started out working for a salary but also had the option to buy cows, buildings and, eventually, land. As time passed, their relationship progressed from employer/employee to more of a partnership. By the time Ned was ready to retire, Darrin was in a position to buy the rest of Ned’s operation.
Before and while working with Darrin, Ned consulted his accountant, lawyer, and other advisors to ensure he and his family would be protected into retirement. This planning paid off, and now Darrin is a new generation on the farm – just as Ned had hoped would happen.
Ernest and Gertrude Squabble farmed their whole lives. Their daughter Sara was the only child interested in farming and gradually took over the operation as they aged. Sara repeatedly asked her parents about her place in the future of the farm business, but Ernest and Gertrude kept saying it was all taken care of in their will.
Ernest died first, and things went on as usual. But after Gertrude died and the will was read, Sara found out that the farm and all of its assets were to be divided equally between her and her two siblings.
Sara thought it was clear that she should get the farm. After all, she was the one who’d stayed home to run it. Her two siblings had both moved away but now wanted their inheritance in cash – and as soon as possible. There was no way for Sara could buy out her brother and sister. The farm was sold in its entirety, with many of the proceeds going toward taxes and legal fees. After the personal sacrifices and financial contributions Sara had made, she felt hurt and taken advantage of. She no longer farms and the family no longer speaks.
