Prepared to Go Back

Innovative College Course Helps Farm Kids Decide Whether to Return to Farm

After enrolling in "Returning to the Farm," Garrett Riekhof was confident he could earn enough income farming to support his wife, Cara, and daughters Makenna and Annika. (Progressive Farmer photo by Jim Patrico)

Garrett Riekhof had worked his family's century farm, outside of Higginsville, Mo., pretty much since he could "hold onto the fenders of Dad's tractor." Yet Riekhof didn't know if returning to the farm to work with his dad, Gary, or even take over the operation at some point, was a good financial move.

"It's kind of like a marriage," the 32-year-old producer of white corn and soybeans explains. "Once you make the commitment, you can't waffle because of the capital investment."

Riekhof gained an important perspective on the business of farming while attending the University of Missouri. The agricultural economics major enrolled in a unique course offered by the university to help him make his decision.

Kevin Moore, an associate professor of agriculture and applied economics, teaches a semester-long course called "Returning to the Farm." It's an intensive look at the business side of farming using the students' own farming data.

LESSONS OF THE FARM CRISIS

Moore began teaching the course in the 1980s in the wake of the financial Farm Crisis.

"At the time, so many farms were going bankrupt that it was scary for both the one on the farm and the kids looking to go back," he says. "Adding the next generation is often what puts the business back into debt for expansion," he explains.

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The class calls for students to create a long-range business plan for their farm. That plan includes an analysis of ownership issues, labor provisions, financial-management challenges, marketing skills and opportunities, types and amounts of production and technologies used.

"Kevin Moore's goal is to make you understand the financial culture of the farm before you sign on," Riekhof says.

Weekend workshops required him to sit down with his dad and talk about tough issues like disability, death and what will ultimately happen to the farm. His parents' succession plan calls for Riekhof to share the farm with his sister, Gina Riekhof Gampper, a Kansas City attorney.

That the conversation happened with his parents was the biggest benefit from the class, Riekhof believes. His parents attended the workshops and the meetings, forcing conversations about the farm's financial worth and the future.

A BUSINESS BORN

Today, Riekhof and his wife, Cara, run a tight ship on the 1,350 acres. Riekhof rents from his dad, who no longer actively farms, and neighbors. He operates some ground in partnership with two producers whom he shares grain-hauling equipment and grain storage.

Riekhof controls some costs by keeping as much farm work as possible "in-house." He built his own grain storage and installed his own field tile.

"I attribute my position to Dad's open-mindedness and creativity," Riekhof says. "He worked with me to figure out how to make enough income for my parents as well as my wife and me."

School has proven valuable, too. "Professor Moore got us used to getting real-life data from our own operations," Riekhof says.

CRITICAL THINKING

Moore says the most critical skills he teaches students are business management and how to assess and manage the farm like the multimillion-dollar business it is.

"Costs have gotten so high -- land (whether you rent or buy), machinery, inputs -- there is so much uncertainty regarding output prices," Moore adds. "The budgets we run have never been so volatile and unpredictable. Margins can look good or very thin simply by changing the very unpredictable prices for crops [and] livestock, or inputs."

Riekhof says the class teaches students how to go back to the farm, but also when not to. "I was the only one in the ag school when I graduated with a specific intent to go back to the farm," he says.

Some 300 students have completed the "Returning to the Farm" program, and many of them farm. "The success of the program is not in getting kids back on the farm, it's in helping them make the best decision possible for their future and the family farm's future," Moore says.

"I've had several go through the program and decide not to go back when they had been planning to," Moore continues. The class and its exercises changed their plans and likely prevented a problem or a poor decision, he says.

Riekhof credits the class for helping him and his dad figure out how to make the farm financials work for them both.

"The capital nature of farming is not getting any better," he says. "The margins are just so tight."

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