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Learn › Finance & Succession
Finance & Succession
Records, business structure, loans, succession and land access, in plain language.
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Free and low-cost places to learn the money and legal side of ranching, from keeping books to passing the ranch on. Most are nonprofits, universities or USDA. Many of the recorded talks are from Food Animal Concerns Trust's free webinar library.
Farm finance basics Business structure & farm law Farm finance training Loans & federal programs Grants & free FACT webinars Succession & estate planning Land access & transfer Pricing & marketing Books
Featured talk: farm succession and Infinite Banking
Building Soil, Wealth, and Legacies: Infinite Banking for Regenerative Farm Succession
A free Food Animal Concerns Trust webinar from September 30, 2025, presented by Dana Wilson of Chantilly Ranch in Yuba County, California, who runs this site. FACT describes it this way: "Discover how regenerative farmers are using Infinite Banking to finance operations, grow long-term wealth, and ensure a smooth transition to the next generation — without relying on banks or losing the farm."
Infinite Banking is a strategy built on permanent (whole) life insurance. Like any financial strategy it has costs and trade-offs and won't suit every operation, so compare it with other options and talk it over with a qualified professional. FACT's webinar page · Watch on YouTube
Farm finance basics
Good records come first. They show which parts of the ranch make money, they make tax time easier, and every lender and grant asks for them.
- IRS Publication 225, Farmer's Tax Guide
The IRS's own plain guide to farm income, expenses and depreciation. Updated every tax year. - IRS Schedule F (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Farming
The form most sole-proprietor farms and ranches file, with its instructions. - Unpacking the Schedule F (FACT webinar, Dec 16, 2025)
Andy Larson of the Food Finance Institute on fitting your books to the Schedule F, farm-tax terms and finding a farm tax accountant. Slides on the page. - UC Davis Cost & Return Studies
Sample enterprise budgets for California commodities, plus cow/calf budget calculators you can fill in with your own numbers.
Recorded webinars
Understanding Your Farm Income StatementFood Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeFACT webinar with Andy Larson of the Food Finance Institute on bookkeeping and reading your profit and loss statement.
Treating Farming as a Business, not a HobbyFood Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeFACT webinar with Gray Shipley of Shipley Farms Beef on running a small farm as a business.
Business structure & farm law
Sole proprietorship, LLC or something else? Structure affects taxes, liability and how easily the ranch can pass to the next generation.
- Farm Commons
Nonprofit farm-law education: workshops, plain-language resources and a peer community for farmers and ranchers.
Recorded webinars
Business Structure Basics for Your FarmFood Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeFACT webinar with Rachel Armstrong of Farm Commons on choosing a business structure and good governance.
5 Steps to Protect Your Farm, Legally SpeakingFood Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeFACT webinar on five legal steps to protect a farm business.
Farm Liability & Insurance BasicsFood Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeFACT webinar on farm liability basics.
Employment Law BasicsFood Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeFACT webinar on employment law basics for farms that hire help.
Farm finance training
Structured courses for when you want to go deeper than a webinar.
FACT: Funding Your Farm (free short course)
Food Animal Concerns Trust's free self-paced course on paying for farm projects.
Food Finance Institute: Financial Foundations for Farms
Training on farm financial statements and planning. Listed at $250 with financial assistance available; the next session was "coming soon" when we checked on Oct 28, 2026.
Ranching for Profit School
A week-long ranch economics school (gross margins, overheads, grazing and people). We could not confirm current tuition, so check with the school.
Loans & federal programs
Debt can be a useful tool or a heavy weight. Know what each lender offers, and what it costs, before you sign.
USDA Farm Service Agency farm loans (farmers.gov)
USDA's direct and guaranteed farm loans, including microloans and loans for beginning farmers. Start with your local USDA Service Center.
NSAC Grassroots Guide: Credit & Crop Insurance
The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition's plain-language guide to federal farm credit programs.
Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
Wisconsin nonprofit doing sustainable-agriculture research, education and farm policy work.
Recorded webinars
Farm Loans: How and When to Use Debt to Finance Your Farm BusinessFood Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeFACT webinar on when debt makes sense for a farm business, which loans suit which purpose, and how to get approved.
Federal Funding Opportunities for Livestock FarmersFood Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeFACT webinar on federal funding programs for livestock farmers.
Federal Funding and Financing for FarmersFood Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeFACT webinar (2017) with NSAC's Ferd Hoefner on USDA loan, grant, cost-share and conservation programs. Some program details have changed since.
Grants & free FACT webinars
Grants don't have to be repaid, but they take time to win. FACT runs one of the few grant programs aimed at pasture-based livestock farms.
FACT Fund-a-Farmer grants
Grants for humane, pasture-based livestock projects, with eligibility and deadlines on the page.
Get Your Farm Funded: Tips for Applying to Grants (FACT webinar)
FACT's archive page for its grant-writing tips webinar.
Our grant calendar lists open grants and cost-share programs for ranch projects, California first.
Recorded webinars
Getting your Farm Funded: Understanding FACT’s Fund-a-Farmer Grants in 2026Food Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeFACT's Oct 2026 webinar on applying for its Fund-a-Farmer grants.
Getting your Farm Funded: Understanding FACT’s Fund-a-Farmer Grants in 2025Food Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeThe 2025 version of the same Fund-a-Farmer webinar.
Succession & estate planning
Most farmland in the U.S. will change hands in the coming decades. A written plan, started early and talked through with the whole family, protects both the land and the relationships.
Start with the featured talk above on Infinite Banking and farm succession, then work through these planning resources.
- AFT Farm Transfer Toolkit
American Farmland Trust's worksheets and steps for landowners transferring land, the business or both to the next farmer. - Ties to the Land (Oregon State University Extension)
A land-grant extension program that walks families through the social, financial and legal sides of succession for farms, forests and rangeland. - Land For Good
Nonprofit helping farm families plan transfers and identify successors, and helping new farmers find land. Its guides include How to Buy a Farm. - International Farm Transition Network
A network of professionals and programs that help farmers and ranchers move into and out of farming. - Heirs' property (farmers.gov)
How land inherited without a clear title can still qualify for USDA programs, and why clearing title matters. - Farmland Under Threat (FACT webinar, Dec 8, 2026)
Upcoming FACT webinar on how The Conservation Fund buys threatened farmland and sells it to farmers at an affordable price.
Land access & transfer
Land is usually the biggest cost of starting or growing a ranch. These groups help with financing, affordable purchase and finding land.
- The Conservation Fund: Farms Fund
Buys threatened farmland and makes it available to beginning and expanding farmers at an affordable price. - California FarmLink
California nonprofit offering farm loans, land-access help and business support. - The Carrot Project
Financial-management help and financing for small farms and food businesses. - Farm Aid: Resources for Farmers
Connects farmers with help through its Farmer Resource Network, including during financial stress. - National Young Farmers Coalition: Land
Land-access work and resources for young and beginning farmers. - Black Farmer Fund
Loans and grants for Black farm and food businesses in the Northeast.
Pricing & marketing
Price from your real costs, not from the store down the road.
- NC Choices (NC State University)
Program at NC State's Center for Environmental Farming Systems supporting niche meat producers and processors.
Recorded webinars
Basics of Farm Financials for Successful PricingFood Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeFACT webinar with Lee Menius of NC Choices on financial goals, cost allocation, evaluating enterprises and setting prices.
Subscriptions that Work: How to Create Recurring Revenue on your FarmFood Animal Concerns Trust · YouTubeFACT webinar on subscriptions and other ways to build recurring farm revenue.
Books
From our Books page: farm business, ranch economics and bringing in the next generation.
The Organic Farmer's Business Handbook
Record-keeping, enterprise budgets and pricing for small farms.
Buy on Bookshop.org paid link
Knowledge Rich Ranching
Ranch economics and management lessons from grass-based ranchers.
Buy on Bookshop.org paid link
Start Your Farm
A planning guide for new farmers covering money, land, markets and time.
Buy on Bookshop.org paid link
No Risk Ranching
Building a grazing business on leased land and custom-grazed cattle, with little debt.
Buy on Bookshop.org paid link
Fields of Farmers
Interns, apprentices and bringing the next generation into a farm business.
Buy on Bookshop.org paid link
26 linked resources, 15 recorded webinars and 6 books. Links checked October 28, 2026. Programs, prices and dates change; check each source. See our disclosure.