National Farm Viability Conference: Full Schedule

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-facilitated by HMI Education Director Ann Adams and independent advisor 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 case-based scenarios and peer exchange, participants will gain practical ideas for making Holistic Management more flexible, accessible, and effective in day-to-day work. This is a participatory workshop, participants will work do a sort of mini "reading the farm", working to identify the tools that may work in these scenarios, then a follow up discussion of the outcomes of that work together along with sharing other ways they may have found these tools to be useful in their work. Part 1: Framing & Provider Context (10 min) Brief introduction to key Holistic Management principles and practices we will be focusing on today and why. Survey audience to get a sense of knowledge of and experience with Holistic Management/Whole Farm Planning. Part 2: Applied Scenario – Getting the Gears Working (25 min) Participants work in small groups with a realistic farm scenario. Prompted analysis: Where is the farm aligned or in tension with its holistic goal? What is the weakest link in their key enterprises? What is the likely root cause? What is the farmer actually stuck on? What is most impacting their progress toward their holistic goal? What tools are most useful in this moment? Which WFP tools would you use? Which would you skip or modify? What non-HMI tools would complement or replace them? Groups generate: A short analysis Brainstorm 1-3 next steps/solutions Part 3: Group Debrief & Comparative Analysis (10 min) Report-outs from groups Compare approaches across the room: Where did analyses differ? Why? What tools were used most often? Least? What did you learn from this exercise? Part 4: Integration, Adaptation & Real-World Use (20 min) Stevie Schafenacker shares applied adaptations from her work: Using Holistic Decision Testing in short-on-time advising contexts Integrating WFP tools into: S.W.O.T. analysis Business planning processes Early-stage farmer conversations Adapting tools for: Diverse cultural and operational contexts What stuck, what didn't, and why Part 5: Critical Reflection & Peer Exchange (10 min) Open discussion: What still feels useful in your work? What feels unrealistic or unnecessary? What are next action steps for you as a service provider? How have you already adapted these tools?

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 four years, providing business planning, financial literacy support, and strategic decision-making assistance to more than 60 individual farm clients. Prior to that, she coordinated... Read More →

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

Business Planning and Development

9:00am MDT

Developing a Model Ethics Policy for Farm Business Assistance Organizations

Wednesday September 23, 2026 9:00am - 10:30am MDT

Turquoise

Building on previous work at NFVC, with the goal of developing a model ethics policy that can be used and adapted by any business advising organization, this session will progress a draft model ethics policy through community feedback and discussion. We will present a model draft to workshop with attendees. This will also provide a forum for discussing the ethical quandaries that come up in our profession as well as further develop a model ethics policy for circulation. This session builds on previous offerings by the NFVC: "Farm Succession 201: Transactional Ethics" NFVC 2021 (Virtual, Oregon) and "Ethics and Values for Business Advisors and Organizations: Influencing Consequential Decisions" NFVC 2024 (Charleston WV). Following that plenary, a survey was administered to all conference attendees, which indicated strong support for a development of a model ethics policy that could be made available to organizations. Specifically, 57% respondents requested a model ethics policy available for use / adaptation (with only 1.6% responding that a model ethics policy was not needed). More conclusively, 70.5% respondents said they would utilize a "model ethics policy or an industry standard policy that they could sign on to." Our session seeks to develop that model ethics policy. The session will sample, review, critique, and discuss existing ethical guidelines. The presenters are only aware of a very few existing ethical policies. One is available from CA FarmLink, ; another is available from the American Society of Agricultural Consultants Code of Ethics, the International Coaching Federation,; and each state bar association publishes a code of ethics for attorneys.

Speakers

Rachel Armstrong

Executive Director, Farm Commons

As the founder and Executive Director of Farm Commons, Rachel Armstrong creates the organization's innovative approach to farm law education and risk reduction. Rachel instructs continuing legal education classes for the American Bar Association, teaches farm law for the University... Read More →

Paige Phinney

Regional Program Director, Kitchen Table Advisors

Benneth Phelps

Agricultural Viability Alliance / The Carrot Project

Benneth Phelps is The Carrot Project’s Executive Director. She brings a deep and dynamic knowledge of our work from 12+ years of on-the-ground experience uplifting New England’s farmers, and a clear vision for building a just and resilient future for agricultural entrepreneur... Read More →

Jack Hornickel

Staff Attorney, Pace Law School

Pro bono attorney serving small farm businesses for 10+ years. Currently directing clinical law practice which includes instruction on ethics. Prior NFVC presentations in 2017, 2019, and 2021.

Poppy Davis

Adviser, California FarmLink

Poppy Davis is a business and policy adviser to agricultural and food and beverage enterprises, nonprofits, and local governments. She works through agricultural training programs around the country to deliver programing on topics including agricultural taxation, accounting, credit... Read More →

Wednesday September 23, 2026 9:00am - 10:30am MDT
Turquoise

Program Design Development Management and Funding

11:00am MDT

Sharing Practices and New Thinking to Unlocking Capital and Collaboration to Increase Farmland Access

Wednesday September 23, 2026 11:00am - 12:30pm MDT

Turquoise

The session will increase participants’ knowledge of the resources and opportunities available to them to create and apply innovative ways to address farmland financing challenges. It will also give participants an opportunity to pose their challenges to the group to resource potential solutions. This is a working meeting for capital providers/stackers/navigators from CDFIs, CDCs, and land access financing advisors, and foundations. We will use the Challenge Clinic format, first with capital providers, and then for navigators and others working with farmland access. A Challenge Clinic is a structured group learning and problem solving session where participants bring specific real issues (or learning challenges), then work together—often with a facilitator—to diagnose the problem, brainstorm solutions, and apply practical strategies.

Speakers

Julia Valliant

Farms for a New Generation Director, American Farmland Trust

Jan Joannides

Executive Director and Co-Founder, Renewing the Countryside

For the past twenty years, Jan has been an advocate and organizer for rural communities and citizens working to stimulate economic growth and enhance their communities through sustainable uses of their landscapes and resources. Jan holds a master's degree in natural resources from... Read More →

Dorothy Suput

Principal, DSuput Consulting

Dorothy has over 30 years of non-profit leadership experience. I work with non-profits to design and strengthen programs. My work helps expand capital and land access and the availability of business development programs that promote farm and food-business economic viability. I am... Read More →

Wednesday September 23, 2026 11:00am - 12:30pm MDT
Turquoise

Accessing Capital, Land Access Retention and Transfer

8:00am MDT

Right-Sizing Farm Accounting Systems

Thursday September 24, 2026 8:00am - 9:30am MDT

Turquoise

Right-Sizing Farm Accounting Systems is intended as an interactive workshop for farm service providers, business advisors, and technical assistance practitioners who help farmers navigate bookkeeping, spreadsheets, taxes, and financial management systems. Many advisors are being asked to support clients on the numbers side of the business- yet onboarding farm clients into practical systems can feel daunting. Every farm has different records, business complexity, management goals, and overall comfort with financial tools. This session would introduce a practical (whiteboard-use) framework, for helping practitioners match accounting systems to the real needs of the farm business. Participants will utilize a three-tier framework, as a way to ground our conversation around when farms are best served by simple analog tools, transitional spreadsheet systems, or integrated software platforms. Rather than promote one software or bookkeeping method, the session focuses on fit: matching tools, teaching approach, and decision-making needs to the real-world capacity of the business owner. While I have personal experience as both a former farm owner/operator and current farm business advisor, this workshop is intentionally designed to be collaborative, and welcomes additional panelists from other regions and organizations- to broaden perspectives and share what is working in their own client onboarding processes. Attendees will come away with: - A practical framework for diagnosing mismatch between client needs and accounting systems - Strategies for helping clients move from underbuilt or overbuilt systems toward better fit - Stronger confidence onboarding farm clients into usable bookkeeping and financial tools - New ideas for scaling both tools and teaching approach across different farm sizes and stages - A shift in perspective from "Are the books clean?" to "Are better decisions being made?"

Speakers

Gina Simmons

Farm Service Provider, Intervale Center

I grew up in Maine, and after moving away, came back and spent over a decade as the founder/operator of a rapidly growing poultry business and USDA-inspected processing facility. Stepping down to concentrate on my education, I then graduated from the University of Maine with a BS... Read More →

Thursday September 24, 2026 8:00am - 9:30am MDT
Turquoise

Farm Financial Management