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The Minnesota Beginner Farmer Institute is a workshop series geared toward young or beginning farmers who are either joining an existing farm or starting their own farm and who are using their farm as a business for profit.

Institute participants will tackle questions like: “What is a business plan and what does my banker want to see when I’m applying for a loan? What can I take for a business deduction and when is the best time to market my grain?”

The institute is a four-part course that uses an interactive and fun approach to teach participants farm management topics. The participants will build camaraderie and meet four times over the course of two months. Topics include business planning and goals, taxes, business entities, financial statements, record-keeping, grain marketing and land rent. Each workshop will have educational handouts and presentations.

“Keeping on top of and managing the farm’s finances is a top concern,” said Nathan Hulinsky, University of Minnesota Extension agricultural business management educator. “This course will give the participants the opportunity to understand their finances, as well as their business goals, to help determine the farm’s best next step to keep the farm profitable.”

There will be four sites across Minnesota that are hosting this series. These workshops are free to attend, and lunch is provided. The class will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. with doors opening at 9:30 a.m.

• Owatonna: Nov. 21 and 28 and Dec. 5 and 12
• Lamberton: Nov. 15, 20 and 29 and Dec. 6
• Clearwater: Jan. 9, 16, 23 and 30.
• Detroit Lakes: Jan. 18 and 25 and Feb. 1 and 8

Registration is free, but pre-registration is required at https://z.umn.edu/BF23.

Questions? Contact Nathan Hulinsky at 218-828-2680 or huli0013@umn.edu.