National Farm Viability Conference: Full Schedule

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1:30pm MDT

Starting Farms with Limited Resources: What Actually Works and How to Support It

Tuesday September 22, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm MDT

This highly interactive workshop shares real-world lessons from working closely with immigrant, limited-resources, and Spanish-speaking farmers in New York State over the past four years. It focuses on how farmers actually start and grow farm businesses when they have limited access to land, capital, and formal support systems. While traditional approaches emphasize business planning, financing, and readiness, this session explores what happens in practice. Farmers often begin with experience, relationships, informal systems, and small, strategic steps—and build from there. Participants will be introduced to a practical framework that reflects these realities and can be used to better support beginning farmers. Through case-based group activities, peer discussion, and guided reflection, attendees will analyze real farmer scenarios and explore how to apply these insights in their own work. The session will be co-facilitated by leadership from the Cornell Small Farms Program, bringing both field-based experience and program design perspectives. This is not a lecture. It is a hands-on session designed to help professionals rethink how they assess, support, and design programs for farmers—especially those navigating structural barriers. Learning Objectives: By the end of this session, participants will be able to: -Recognize alternative pathways to farm start-up beyond traditional capital-based models -Identify how farmers use experiential knowledge, social networks, and informal systems to initiate and grow their operations -Apply a practical framework to assess farmer readiness and development trajectories -Identify strategies to better support farmers with limited resources through programs, advising, and technical assistance -Reflect on how to align their own work with the realities and strengths of the farmers they serve

Speakers

Anu Rangarajan

Director/ Sr. Extension Associate, Cornell Small Farms Program

Anu Rangarajan is the Director of the Cornell Small Farms Program and a national leader in farm viability, agricultural education, and program development. She has extensive experience supporting beginning farmers and leading initiatives that integrate research, extension, and policy... Read More →

Mildred Alvarado

Director, Equitable Farm Futures Initiative / Extension Associate, Cornell Small Farms Program

Mildred Alvarado has over 20 years of experience in agricultural development, working closely with immigrant, limited-resource and Spanish-speaking farmers in the U.S. and Latin America. Her work focuses on farm business development, land access, and equitable agricultural systems... Read More →

Tuesday September 22, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm MDT
Turquoise

Business Planning and Development, Land Access Retention and Transfer

3:30pm MDT

Making Holistic Management Work: Adapting Whole Farm Planning Tools for Real-World Farm Advising

Tuesday September 22, 2026 3:30pm - 5:00pm MDT

Turquoise

Whole Farm Planning, rooted in the Holistic Management framework, has for decades been valued for its comprehensive approach to triple-bottom-line farm management and decision-making.
Yet many practitioners are seeking more practical, adaptable ways to integrate these tools into day-to-day advising and existing program models.
Designed for farm service providers with any level of prior exposure to Holistic Management, this workshop focuses on practical strategies for integrating Holistic Management and Whole Farm Planning tools into real-world farm advising.
Participants will explore ways to use these tools to help producers assess challenges in their specific farm context and identify clear priorities for action, while also sharing approaches that have worked in their own practice.
Co-led by HMI Education Director Ann Adams and farm and food business coach Stevie Schafenacker, this session emphasizes practical application rather than theory, focusing on adaptable use of core Whole Farm Planning tools such as Holistic Goals, Farm assessments such as Weak Link and Root Cause Analysis, and Holistic Decision Testing.
Drawing on real farm client experience, Stevie Schafenacker, who became an HMI Whole Farm Planning trainer in 2021, will share how these tools have been simplified, modified, and integrated into her work and invite a peer to peer share and discussion on ways these tools have and could be integrated into existing work.
Through mini case-based scenarios, peer exchange, and storytelling, participants will gain practical ideas for making Holistic Management more flexible, accessible, and effective in day-to-day work.

Speakers

Ann Adams

Education Director, Holistic Management International

Ann has worked in the nonprofit world for almost 25 years, creating and directing national programs, collaborating with over 100 non-profit and government entities to create positive impact among producers and land stewards seeking to build & maintain sustainable farms, ranches and... Read More →

Stevie Schafenacker

Principal, Independent Advisor

Stevie Schafenacker is an independent farm advisor who has worked with New England farmers for the past 10 years. She has provided business planning, financial literacy, and strategic decision-making assistance to more than 90 individual farm and food clients since charting her own... Read More →

Tuesday September 22, 2026 3:30pm - 5:00pm MDT
Turquoise

Business Planning and Development