By Bonnie Warndahl
“My three-year-old tells me he wants to ride in the big yuge bombine," Andrew relays to me— because his youngest can’t yet say "combine."
Andrew Miller is a 4th generation farmer in southwest Iowa near Council Bluffs. His four children, ages 3–12, each dabble in their own area of “farming,” he tells me, raising chickens, cats, or dogs. “They all like different things about it. I want them to explore and do what they want. If they want to farm, great but if not, that’s fine too.”
Born into a traditional row cropping operation, Andrew and one of his siblings took over family land in 2015 when their father and uncle retired (another brother and a sister live and work off the farm). They farmed together for a few years and then Andrew decided that he wanted to switch to regenerative farming. When it became clear that he and his brother didn’t align around changing land management practices, Andrew struck out on his own.
“Most of the family land is in my grandpa’s corporation,” he shared with me. “Family can buy, trade, or give away shares. My dad and uncle helped decide who would farm what. It was pretty easy that way. The long-term sustainability and intergenerational dynamics of having [the land] in a company or a trust is not a bad deal,” he said. “You’re going to farm it but you’re not going to own it. It would be nice to have equity in land and be able to leverage it but…” he trailed off for a brief moment before adding, “It would be hard for one heir to buy it all.”
Andrew's interest in switching to organic farming and regenerative techniques was rooted in the intentional building of soil health to reduce inputs and increase resiliency in the face of weather extremes and changing margins related to buying inputs and selling crops.
This shift stemmed from knowledge shared by fellow Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) members and several online platforms that highlighted the achievements of producers committed to building soil health. Especially intriguing to Andrew was the process of building organic matter and storing soil carbon after noticing that, over the years, some gains appeared to stall by only using no-till.
Between his half of the inherited family land and some of a neighbor’s rental land, Andrew converted about 800 acres to regenerative. He then lost the rental land due to the neighbor’s passing, after which he spent years trying to find additional acreage to rent with no success. Despite obtaining Organic Certification on three of his fields and diversifying his crops—including adding a niche white corn for tortilla-making—he struggled to make things pencil out.
“It’s just hard to stay competitive in this field. If you can’t spread the cost out over enough acres you just can’t make it work.”
Having done all he knew to do, Andrew reached out to Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI) for help and found himself working with Amber Mohr, one of the state’s Farmland Access Navigators. Amber has worked as a Navigator since 2020 and helps to support both land-seeking farmers and landowners looking to transition or rent their land. She started by analyzing Andrew’s current markets and business plan to see if there might be additional changes he could make to bolster his operation without adding more land but her assessment revealed the same outcome.
“As an entrepreneur, he was doing everything right,” Amber affirmed. “He’s flexible. He’s diverse. He’s being very thoughtful and conservative about his decisions and how those impact people now and into the future. He’s done all the right things. It’s just that difficult to cash flow.”
For over two years Amber sought a viable opportunity for Andrew to expand while helping him overcome the burnout common in business startups and coaching him on how to better market himself and his product. They decided to create and send out mailer ads as a low-investment method of targeting landowners in the specific geographic region relevant to Andrew’s operation. She encouraged him to find more ways to “put himself out there,” particularly in front of the large base of PFI members.
Finally, through PFI, a prospect did turn up. About 30 miles away, a landowner seeking a tenant popped onto Amber’s radar and she was able to help Andrew negotiate a 5-year lease with a flexible rent arrangement based on annual crop prices at the local grain bin rather than some of the area’s going rates, which have commanded as much as $400 per acre. The 435-acre tract is not in the most ideal location but by bringing Andrew’s total acres farmed to 1,150, it’s large enough and close enough to cash flow the farm. Amber worked with him to make sure the gas and time expenses were worth the commute.
“In 2024 he nearly gave up and went to all-conventional corn,” she shared. “This is someone who gives more of a hoot [about land management] than anyone. He was that stressed about cash flow!”
“I told Amber, you literally helped save the farm,” Andrew stated confidently during our phone conversation. “A lot of her knowledge from previous experience was a great interplay.” Regarding finding land, he added, “It just doesn’t happen overnight. You can reach out to friends, neighbors, friends of friends… it might be 5 years before you get anything.”
Now that Andrew has succeeded in securing additional acreage, he is able to relax a bit and focus on further developing his niche markets for small grains while he acquires more education around business management and marketing.
“He doesn’t have direct marketing skills,” Amber shared. “Marketing yourself is a skill no one teaches you how to do but every farmer needs to know how to do it. If you’re looking for land you need to market yourself! You have to look at yourself as a product that you’re selling. Know enough about yourself to know you’re worth someone else’s investment.”
“He was accepted to the business coaching program through PFI,” she continued. “And he’s working on an oat milling project. His organic oats are a superior product. In order to get top dollar for that he has begun looking into milling his own oats—either rolled oats or oat groats—and seeking out locations. He needs engineers. He needs a machinist. He needs a marketer. He’s looking at the competition and checking out what he can duplicate. I’m hoping I’ll be entrepreneurial support. It’s a good reminder that outsourcing is part of being an entrepreneur.”
If you know of anyone who might be a great resource for Andrew’s organic oats endeavor or other enterprises, please reach out to Amber Mohr at amber.mohr@practicalfarmers.org as she continues to provide professional support to Andrew while he gets established in new markets.
Amber Mohr has been a Farmland Access Navigator with Renewing the Countryside and Practical Farmers of Iowa since March of 2020. She owns and operates Fork Tail Farm LLC in Avoca, Iowa, producing pastured eggs, chemical-free produce, and small orchard fruits marketed through CSA membership and local food procurement services. She enjoys farming with her family, leaving the barn cat operation to her husband Jeremy, and maintenance of outdoor entertainments to her three children Ernie, Lenora, and Walden. Her passions outside of farming include rural economic and community development and the arts.
Do you have a farmland access or transfer success story to share? Please reach out to Bonnie Warndahl at bonnie@rtcinfo.org or 612-462-9311
Wisconsin Farmland Access Hub Partners Meeting, April 1
On April 1st, Wisconsin Hub partners will meet virtually to 1) share updates on their farmland access and transition work across the state and region, 2) learn about several new and ongoing working groups of the Farmland Access Hub and ways to engage, and 3) discuss current resources, opportunities, needs and concerns related to supporting farmland access work in this challenging time.
Scheduled for Tuesday, April 1, 2–3:30 p.m. If you are working on farmland access and/or transition in Wisconsin and are interested in joining this conversation, please register over Zoom.
If you are aware of partners/orgs not currently active in the Wisconsin Hub and would like to be (or you think would be a great fit), please feel free to send them this invite!
You can email Bonnie Warndahl at bonnie@rtcinfo.org with any questions.
Calling All Filmmakers, Amateur to Professional!
Here's a great opportunity to get your story out to a large audience of movers and shakers, both in Wisconsin and around the world.
The nonprofit Freeland, based in Green Lake, Wisconsin, is hosting its 2025 Film Festival in person and in Green Lake, September 12–14. The theme this year is "Celebrating our Planet," which includes regenerative farming as one of the categories. Organizers are looking for amazing stories that inspire and offer a stellar opportunity for us to get stories out to a larger audience about land access and transition—successes, challenges, and more.
They accept films of all shapes and sizes from everyday folks to professionals from all over the world. The deadline is April 15.
Let's shine a spotlight on the work we do that positively impacts the future of our communities.
Thanks and see you out there,
Shelly Rothman
P.S. Reach out if you'd like to attend the film festival as a voice for regenerative agriculture or just need a place to stay!
Quarterly Virtual Meetings Help Farmland Owners Navigate Succession and Transfer
By Bonnie Warndahl
In an ongoing effort to identify and support landowners interested in transitioning their farms, the Hub’s Engaging Landowners Working Group has been working since 2022 to procure materials and host events with a goal of providing important transition planning information and resources to this demographic of farmers and non-operating landowners. This working group is comprised of key partner organizations including Land Stewardship Project, Region Nine Development Commission, University of Minnesota Extension, American Farmland Trust, Foxhead Regenerative Agriculture Project, Practical Farmers of Iowa, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, University of Wisconsin Extension, and Renewing the Countryside, among others.
More recently, this working group has begun offering quarterly virtual learning sessions to provide this content to a broader base of farmland owners in the Upper Midwest. Peer learning and support is a central component in these sessions, as well as providing critical context for the challenges of the young and beginning farmers they hope to transition their land to. In the last quarterly webinar, held January 15th, participants learned about ways to get started on succession planning and resources to aid in their succession plan, with Jim Molenaar—Farm Succession Coordinator at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
Each quarterly virtual learning session focuses on a different topic and gives participants an opportunity to share their stories, concerns, or needs within a supportive framework of peer learning and facilitated discussion. Notifications about upcoming events will be shared on the Farmland Access Hub’s events page and through the Hub’s public farmland access listserv. If you would like to be added to the listserv, please contact bonnie@rtcinfo.org or fill out the “Join Our Listserv” request form located at the bottom of each webpage at http://www.farmlandaccesshub.org.
Hub Partner, American Farmland Trust, Creates Funds to Help Transition Farms to Emerging Farmers
By Bonnie Warndahl and Alison Volk
You don’t have to be a foundation or think of yourself as a philanthropist. Help keep land in farming and farmers on the land while earning a return on your investment!
Private investors and foundations are being offered a new way to help ensure farmland protection and transfer work continues, while directly impacting the success of next-generation farmers gaining secure land tenure.
American Farmland Trust is in the process of building a Loan Investment Fund for purchasing farms before they get scooped up by developers. Investors can choose which fund to contribute to and which region (state) they want their funds to support—and can earn a 2% return on investment!
Help us make a difference! Please share this information with interested individuals, organizations, and foundations. For more information about contributing to these investment funds, please contact Alison Volk at AFT: avolk@farmland.org
Get Involved: Take Action to Protect Wisconsin Farmland!
By Angie Doucette
Wisconsin is losing farmland by the minute. By 2040, we will lose 515,200 acres of some of the nation's best and most productive farmland. We have the opportunity to protect Wisconsin's farmland forever. Voice your support in refunding the state Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement (PACE) Program to permanently protect our agricultural lands and legacy. We invite you to join for budget listening sessions, sign the petition, or both! Together, we can save the land that sustains us.
Budget Listening Sessions:
Wisconsin legislators are hosting listening sessions across the state for the upcoming Wisconsin budget. These listening sessions are a critical opportunity to make your voice heard and speak about the importance of investing in Wisconsin agriculture. American Farmland Trust (AFT) will be attending all four listening sessions and invite you to join! If you are interested in attending and sharing your story, please connect with Angie Doucette, adoucette@farmland.org, for guidance on Listening Session processes and draft testimony.
Wednesday, April 2, 2025
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Kaukauna High School – Auxiliary Gymnasium (Door AA4)
1701 County Road CE, Kaukauna, WI
Friday, April 4, 2025
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Wisconsin State Fair Park – Exposition Center
640 South 84th St., West Allis, WI
Parking at Gate 4
Monday, April 28, 2025
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Hayward High School Auditorium
10320 Greenwood Lane, Hayward, WI
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Northcentral Technical College – Center for Health Sciences
1000 West Campus Dr., Wausau, WI
The Committee will conclude by taking testimony at the time specified. If you cannot join the Listening Sessions in person, we invite you to submit written comments! Written comments can be emailed to the Committee at budget.comments@legis.wisconsin.gov or https://legis.wisconsin.gov/topics/budgetcomments or sent via U.S. mail to: Joe Malkasian, Room 305 East, State Capitol, Madison, WI 53702.
Sign the Petition to Support PACE
American Farmland Trust and partners across the state also invite you to sign the petition to ensure legislators include the state PACE program in our upcoming budget. Please sign and share widely! You can access the petition for signing here.
Where Do You Look for Land?
Oftentimes, when a farmer client comes to the Hub looking for help, they are seeking advice regarding where to look for land. While there aren’t secret, hidden resources that Farmland Access Navigators and other technical service providers use to locate land for sale, we realize that not everyone is aware of the various websites and methods that can be used to search for farmland. Listed below are some of the common resources (outside of Zillow) shared with farm-seeking clients. Do you have others we should add to the list? Please contact bonnie@rtcinfo.org with recommendations.
Land Search Websites and Recommendations
Land Stewardship Project’s Farmland Clearinghouse
Marbleseed’s Classifieds
Ag Solidarity Network—ASN is a social media platform just for farming. It utilizes groups, classifieds, and events postings that farmers can use to connect about leasing, sale, and transition opportunities.
Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Groups—lots of cities and towns have community groups like “what’s happening in and around [insert city name].” In my region of western Wisconsin, for example, we have “What’s happening in (and around) Menomonie” and another for Chippewa Falls. There are also state groups like “Wisconsin farmland for sale by owner” and Buy, Sell, Trade groups. These are all great places to search for farmland or post it for rent or sale. The more regional and the more specific you can be about what you have to offer, or what you are looking for, the better.
Bulletin Boards—In rural communities at least, this is still a viable option for land searches. In small towns, bulletin boards are a great place to post “looking for farmland” or “looking for farmer” flyers. Churches, banks, grocery stores, gas stations, bowling alleys, libraries, and other public places often have boards in high-traffic areas. To create an appealing flyer, make sure to include at least one high-quality photo, keep it one page or less, and include pertinent information about yourself and the land and infrastructure you are seeking (or need a steward for), and for what purpose.
Good luck out there!
Civil Eats article: Farm Advocates
By Catie DeMets
This Recent Civil Eats article titled Farmers Need Help to Survive. A New Crop of Farm Advocates Is on the Way highlights the critical need for specialized support and technical assistance to farmers which the Farmland Access Hub and our partners work hard to provide. The article quotes two partners working in the farmland access space who are near and dear to our hearts—Zach Ducheneaux, the now former Administrator for the Farm Service Agency, and Stephen Carpenter, attorney at Farmers' Legal Action Group.
"One of the biggest needs today,” said Zach Ducheneaux, a former farm advocate and now [formerly] the administrator of the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, "is helping farmers prevent foreclosure. Agriculture isn’t getting any simpler, and neither are the safety net programs designed to support them," he said. "Access to capital and fair rates, terms, and conditions remain the biggest challenges producers face today."
“One way to think about farm advocates is that they exist to help keep people alive, keep them on the farm, and preserve a chance for the future," Stephen Carpenter, an attorney from the Farmers Legal Action Group (FLAG) in St. Paul, Minnesota, wrote in an article for the Clinical Law Review journal.
In a moment when funding for so many essential programs is being cut or delayed, it's a boost to be reminded of the importance of our collective work and care. This article shines a light on that fact. Give the whole article a read here.
Country Music Dips Its Toes In Farm Speculation
By Bonnie Warndahl
An article published last October in The Daily Yonder by Brook’s Lamb titled Commentary: A Chorus for Conservation touches on what seems to be at least a slight trend in country music of highlighting the development of farmland. Lamb calls attention to four different songs by country artists, each with a focus on the anguish of farmland loss:
This is My Dirt and Dirt Cheap, both about an older farmer being pressured by developers to sell his family’s farm.
Smooth tells the story of lamenting life on the farm after selling out for a hefty profit and
There Goes the Neighborhood by Sugarland emphasizes the frustration of witnessing a rural farming community get swallowed up by cheap housing developments.
I took the time to listen to each of these songs and was pleasantly surprised to find that Smooth had already made it onto my personal playlist, just based on the content. I remember first hearing it sometime last summer and thought “Yes! A song about the dang thing I’m fighting for every day!”
Of these four, Dirt Cheap struck me as a song of superior quality, well-written, good composition, and a tear-jerker. There Goes the Neighborhood is a crafty little tune with clever lyrics like, “Subdivide it, give it a name. Shady Acres ain’t got no trees. No one cares ‘long as it’s cheap.” Both have since been added to my playlist.
While it’s sad that this topic is heavy enough to work its way into country music, it brings more general awareness to farmland access and transfer issues. I’m confident that our partners in the Farmland Access Hub and organizations all across the country are pouring every dime and ounce of energy they’ve got into protecting farmland and keeping it accessible to farmers—but if it isn’t a value shared by all we’re really just screaming about these issues into an echo chamber. Policies to support farmland protection, access, and transfer aren’t likely to be successful without public support. If community members don’t understand the threat to food production and food system security, how will they know to support legislation around it—particularly now, as so many of our federal agencies and nonprofits who support farmers are experiencing slashes and delays in federal funding?
Interested in making your land available to farmers?
Are you a landowner interested in renting your land or selling/transitioning your farm to the next generation? There’s a good chance we can help!
The Farmland Access Hub has been building a confidential internal database of “available land” in Minnesota and Wisconsin that Farmland Access Navigators use to help with matchmaking. Landowners have options for when and how their information is shared and decide how and by whom they are contacted (e.g., only by a dedicated staff person, by Navigators, or by land-seeking farmers directly).
Additionally, you may want to consider featuring your farm’s profile on the “Transitions” page on the Farmland Access Hub website. It is our hope this page will become a central resource in the Upper Midwest for farmland owners trying to connect with interested farmers regarding the transfer of land and farm businesses. To get the word out about your available farmland, please fill out the intake form on this page or contact Bonnie Warndahl at bonnie@rtcinfo.org or 612-462-9311.