Episode 5 - Helping Farmers Navigate Financial Pressure with the AgFTAP Cooperators Project

When financial pressures mount, the right support can help farmers find a path forward. In this episode, host Ahlishia Shipley sits down with Alicia Netterville to explore how the AgFTAP Cooperators Project is helping producers navigate real challenges like rising costs, credit issues, and access to capital. Through one-on-one support across 18 states, cooperators are helping farmers restructure debt, secure financing, and strengthen their operations. To learn more or connect with support in your area, call 1-888-200-6013.

Transcript

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;45;15
Ahlishia Shipley
You're listening to the FARM Champion podcast, where we champion farmer and rancher success. In each episode, we sit down with a FARM champion, a trusted professional committed to helping producers navigate the business side of agriculture. If you are a farmer, rancher or agricultural professional working to build stronger, more resilient operations, you are in the right place.

00;00;45;17 - 00;01;11;22
Ahlishia Shipley
I'm Dr. Ahlishia Shipley, your host. In a previous episode, I spoke with guests about initiatives that connect farmers to relevant resources and expertise to help them make informed financial decisions through the AgFTAP program and its FARM Champion Network. And today, we're focusing on a part of that work that really centers direct one on one support for farmers, The AgFTAP Cooperative program. Telling us more about this important work is Alicia Netterville.

00;01;11;23 - 00;01;38;00
Ahlishia Shipley
Alicia is the principal of Aclivity Strategies. She spent over two decades working in policy, resource development and large scale program strategy, really focused on how to move complex ideas into real world impact. Today, she leads agricultural focused program and policy efforts like the AgFTAP Cooperators Program, where she's helping to coordinate organizations across the country that are supporting farmers as they navigate critical financial challenges.

00;01;38;01 - 00;01;43;03
Ahlishia Shipley
She is a lawyer and she is also a FARM champion. Thank you so much for joining me today.

00;01;43;05 - 00;01;45;03
Alicia Netterville
Thank you Ahlishia. It's my pleasure.

00;01;45;04 - 00;02;06;06
Ahlishia Shipley
So I've heard about the AgFTAP Cooperators, and from what I understand, this work is really focused on farmers who are navigating some real financial pressure. So I'm really looking forward to learning more about what it looks like and how support is showing up. So I want to start with what farmers are facing right now. From what you're seeing across the organizations involved in this work.

00;02;06;07 - 00;02;10;27
Ahlishia Shipley
What kinds of situations or challenges are farmers coming into this program with?

00;02;10;29 - 00;02;38;13
Alicia Netterville
So some of the challenges that the farmers that our cooperators are serving are challenges that I'm sure everybody is aware of right now. Rising cost. And they're informing our cooperators that those costs are rising in terms of labor, insurance and definitely input costs. They're saying that their input costs are outpacing their revenue, and that they are faced with persistent cash flow and credit and access to credit challenges as well.

00;02;38;14 - 00;03;10;01
Alicia Netterville
We’re also hearing that their operations, because of these challenges have become unprofitable, and they're actually considering selling their operations at a loss because they feel like profitability remains out of reach without a strong financial management plan. Access to capital. We're hearing from a lot of producers that startup capital is limited, and with their current financial situations, or current business structures, that they are not able to secure funding for their operations.

00;03;10;02 - 00;03;35;19
Alicia Netterville
We're also hearing, as our cooperators triaged the producers, that they need help with record keeping and documentation to even be able to apply for funding or to access things like crop insurance. And then one of the biggest challenges that we're also hearing is time and capacity constraints, because some producers have actually had to seek out farm employment to sustain their families and their operations.

00;03;35;19 - 00;03;58;03
Ahlishia Shipley
While Alicia, that is, that is a lot. You have really explained compounding sources of financial stress for farmers and ranchers across the country. And this program, the program that you are helping to lead, is really focused on those who are under a certain level of financial pressure. Can you talk a bit more about the types of producers being starved through this cooperative program?

00;03;58;03 - 00;04;00;25
Ahlishia Shipley
And you know, who is the program designed to support?

00;04;00;26 - 00;04;35;27
Alicia Netterville
So the program is designed to support producers that are actually in financial distress, and their farm operations are in financial distress. And we allow the producers to self declare that they are experiencing financial distress. And the reason for that is because we really want to reach as many producers as we can to help them solve their problems. Even if a producer works with one of our cooperators and realize that maybe I'm not in as much financial distress as I thought, and it was just a matter of understanding my balance sheet or, you know, reorganizing my debt.

00;04;35;27 - 00;04;44;19
Alicia Netterville
So we want to be open to as many producers that perceive themselves as experiencing financial stress. So that we can help them with their situation.

00;04;44;20 - 00;05;03;17
Ahlishia Shipley
Thank you. That really helps our listeners to understand who this work is actually reaching. So I want to take a step back and talk about how the effort is structured. Could you provide us with a high-level overview of the AgFTAP Cooperators and how it supports organizations that are working directly with farmers?

00;05;03;19 - 00;05;32;19
Alicia Netterville
So the project is a funding opportunity of the 1890 Universities Foundation that's funded by FSA through a cooperative agreement with the Southern Risk Management Education Center. So we all work collectively to implement the project. We have cooperators that are funded to provide the technical assistance to the producers, and it's one on one technical assistance. So that's the overall structure of the project.

00;05;32;21 - 00;06;06;00
Ahlishia Shipley
That’s really awesome. I was actually talking to like a long-term NRCS employee who actually helps farmers at the state level for his state Department of Ag, and when I asked him about kind of one of the most pressing technical assistance needs that he sees farmers having. He had mentioned, you know, having one on one technical assistance and really being able to extend that knowledge past, you know, workshops and in courses that the producers might take and having, you know, a trusted professional come out and help them, you know, with an application or help them with something technical on their operations.

00;06;06;01 - 00;06;29;14
Ahlishia Shipley
So it's really fantastic that there's this resource that is providing direct, one on one technical assistance to producers that are in financial distress. So what you, what you shared about the program really gives a helpful picture of how it's set up. Now I would like to talk about what that support actually looks like in practice. So what are the main ways cooperators are actually helping farmers navigate these challenges?

00;06;29;19 - 00;07;10;22
Alicia Netterville
Okay, so the project is part of the AgFTAP project, but focused only on the financial piece of the AgFTAP project. So the corporators provide financial technical assistance. And the overarching goal and objective is to help farmers and producers understand their financial situation and then help them develop real strategies to improve their financial situation. Although there is a certain degree of outreach involved to identify the farmers and producers that we serve, the tailored assistance is one on one technical assistance to specifically address that specific producer's financial situation.

00;07;10;23 - 00;07;37;29
Alicia Netterville
We do provide risk management education to our cooperators so that they can in turn provide that to the producers. But I do want to say that the cooperators, the 15 cooperators that we have across the 18 states already have existing relationships with farmers and producers. So they are not new to the space. They're already partners with producers, and the development of the relationships is really already there.

00;07;37;29 - 00;07;41;08
Alicia Netterville
It's just enhancing the work that they do with the producers.

00;07;41;11 - 00;08;03;29
Ahlishia Shipley
You bring up something that has been echoed in every conversation that I have, and that is the importance of relationships in the ag community. And it's just something that can't be understated. And we see again, it's come up, you know, it's come up today. Those relationships are really important in being able to effectively support a producer, that that trust is important in kind of connecting with the producers.

00;08;04;00 - 00;08;11;22
Ahlishia Shipley
That was really helpful to understand how the program is set up. Could you also talk more about the objectives of the AgFTAP Cooperators program?

00;08;11;25 - 00;08;38;18
Alicia Netterville
Yes, so we implement the project and our cooperators provide services around four key objectives. As I mentioned earlier, the main objective for all cooperators is to help farmers and producers understand their current financial situations, and they’ll work with them to explore options to address any challenges that they may be facing, and develop some practical strategies to help them sustain those strategies.

00;08;38;19 - 00;09;08;27
Alicia Netterville
That could be anything from their balance sheets just basic bookkeeping, financial literacy, and business planning. Then our second objective is helping producers understand the legal regulations and laws that impact their financial situation. So we want to help producers who find themselves in a situation of, you know, not being able to repay their debt, understand what the mediation process is or resolving any financial disputes.

00;09;08;28 - 00;09;35;08
Alicia Netterville
We want them to understand the NAD dispute resolution process, and that's the national appeals division process. We also want them to understand what it means to file chapter 12 bankruptcy and what their restructuring options are. Objective three is to help them access and participate in programs that are available to help them improve their financial stability and help. Similar to the success story that I talked about.

00;09;35;09 - 00;10;03;24
Alicia Netterville
How do you access USDA programs? Have you already gone into a USDA office to access the program and the outcome wasn't fruitful? Did you not have the right paperwork? Did you bring us the information of why you were denied or why your visit didn't result in you receiving funding or access to the programs? And we actually encourage our producers to use the FSA quiz to determine what loan products are best for them.

00;10;03;24 - 00;10;28;14
Alicia Netterville
And then we help them with record keeping. So we do know their record keeping systems are important to apply for loans, as well as access things like crop insurance. And then our last objective, of course, is targeted outreach and the tailored one-on-one referral services. So all of our cooperators have to do outreach to access the farmers who are not coming directly to them, self-identifying as financially distressed.

00;10;28;15 - 00;10;54;04
Alicia Netterville
And we do that by things like talking to you on this podcast. My role, I go across the country promoting the program, getting our cooperators visible, but our cooperators also do outreach to find the producers to help. And once they find a group of producers, it's not just a meeting, they are there to identify producers that they can provide one-on-one technical assistance for around those other three objectives.

00;10;54;06 - 00;11;29;04
Ahlishia Shipley
Thank you so much. Having that personalized attention, I'm sure, is going to be helpful for so many producers that engage with cooperators that are being funded through this program. And you mentioned navigating maybe, for instance, USDA programs. And, you know, I was in the government and we are really, really masterful at making things complex. So it's always good to, you know, have someone who's knowledgeable that you can trust to kind of navigate those applications and programs so that you can be successful in, you know, accessing the services that you need from USDA and other agencies.

00;11;29;11 - 00;11;51;21
Ahlishia Shipley
So thank you for providing that that overview of the program. So I want to bring this down to the individual level, down into the ground, so to speak. And so one of the things that we focus on, in the FARM Champion podcast is elevating rural farmers success stories because they help listeners see what's actually possible when the right support is in place.

00;11;51;23 - 00;12;14;20
Ahlishia Shipley
So, Alicia, without sharing any identifying details, could you walk us through a real example of a farmer who received support from an AgFTAP Cooperator and, you know, just share details about kind of that, that particular example in terms of what the farmer was facing, what support that they received from the cooperator, and what changed as a result of that support.

00;12;14;22 - 00;12;42;14
Alicia Netterville
So are we are in the early stages of the project. Our project period is August 2025 through August 2027, but we are pleased to report that we do have some early successes. So we did have one cooperator working with a producer who was having problems accessing capital through loans, and it was as simple as them working with them to restructure their debt and their monthly payments.

00;12;42;14 - 00;13;09;26
Alicia Netterville
And once they went back to reapply for the loans, they were approved for loans totaling $1 million, one through a government resource and one through a private resource. And they were able to continue their operation, have cash flow and address their financial situation. And it was a matter of restructuring debt and working at different loan payment structures. So that was one of our early successes.

00;13;09;27 - 00;13;44;12
Alicia Netterville
We also have another early success story of a producer that was a new and beginning farmer. They had access to land to farm, but did not have any capital to start up. So to date they've been able to raise $10,000. And our cooperators still working with that producer to develop a sound financial plan and strategy to continue to raise funding, but also not just raise funding, but to also have a balance sheet, also know how to read their cash flow statements, also knowing how to really structure their, their debt once they start accumulating it.

00;13;44;12 - 00;14;05;24
Alicia Netterville
So we are proud of our early successes. We also have, in the early stages, 117 cases open and we only open cases, to your point, with the conversation with the NRCS employee, we only open cases when we're providing one on one technical assistance. So those are one on one cases that have been open to date.

00;14;06;01 - 00;14;43;00
Ahlishia Shipley
Well those are really, really powerful examples. And I think it's really, really important to celebrate and elevate the the wins that, you know, ag professionals have with farmers and ranchers. So congratulations to your cooperators that worked with these producers to have these, you know, really important outcomes for them. I want to ask you for those that are listening, that are really, really interested in this program for farmers or even agricultural professionals and organizations interested in partnering with a cooperator in their local area, how can they learn more and how can they get connected to this work?

00;14;43;02 - 00;15;14;20
Alicia Netterville
Yes, they can learn more by contacting the Southern Center at 1-888-200-6013. That is the hotline for the AgFTAP, also the AgFTAP Cooperators Project and someone can connect them to a cooperator in their area. We have 15 cooperators serving 18 states. So we are predominantly in the southern region, but we do have cooperators outside of the southern region as well.

00;15;14;22 - 00;15;30;09
Ahlishia Shipley
All right. Thank you for that. So once a cooperator knows who might be servicing the area. They can they can call that cooperator. They can go into their to their office and they can say, well, you know, Alicia sent me here. I heard her say it on the FARM Champion podcast. That is that right?

00;15;30;15 - 00;15;32;24
Alicia Netterville
That's correct. That’s correct.

00;15;32;26 - 00;15;52;04
Ahlishia Shipley
Wonderful, wonderful. Before we close, we like to end these episodes with a brief reflection that just set back for a moment, away from the details. So when you think about the AgFTAP Cooperators, and as the work continues to grow, what really gives you the most hope about how farmers will be supported moving forward?

00;15;52;10 - 00;16;23;28
Alicia Netterville
Personally, what gives me hope is well, first let me say that I am a social entrepreneur, so my work revolves around policy and program development to help organizations help people. And I view our cooperators the same way they are serving our producers who are working as social entrepreneurs to feed people, to make sure that other farmers have the the grains and the feed that they need to run their farms.

00;16;23;28 - 00;16;45;06
Alicia Netterville
So it makes me hopeful to know that we still have people who are dedicated to hard work, because I think I'm not a farmer. I do have a garden in my backyard, and it's hard work for me to do that. Like know when the soil is good when it's not, and turning over the soil every season. I mean, that's hard work and I just have four little beds.

00;16;45;08 - 00;17;13;10
Alicia Netterville
So I really respect the work of farmers, and it gives me hope that they're still committed to this work of being also entrepreneur, of providing us with what we need to live and to eat. And I love this work. I can't imagine not being in this work, and I just wish all of our farmers the best, and I'm happy to be able to provide a resource to help them continue to, to help us.

00;17;13;12 - 00;17;34;27
Ahlishia Shipley
Wonderful. That's that's beautiful. A couple a couple of things that to what you just shared, one of course, farmers and ranchers are some of the most important people on the planet. I definitely agree with you on that. And I also am with you on the gardening piece is really hard. I'm looking at a plant right now that's kind of on its last leg.

00;17;34;27 - 00;17;56;22
Ahlishia Shipley
So, you know, all due respect for, for for producers who can take a seed and get it to harvest for the benefit of all of us. I really enjoyed talking with you today. I learned a lot about the program, and and I'm hoping that our listeners learned a lot and that some of them will be able to connect with the AgFTAP Cooperators.

00;17;56;22 - 00;18;20;17
Ahlishia Shipley
And I want to thank you for the work that you're doing to bring together organizations and support in a way that truly reaches farmers and ranchers. And it's clear that this kind of coordination makes a real difference. So to our listeners, to explore tools and resources that support farm business success, please visit agftap.org to learn more and connect with a FARM Champion in your area.

00;18;20;22 - 00;18;28;10
Ahlishia Shipley
And don't forget to follow and subscribe to the FARM Champion podcast wherever you listen to your podcast. See you next time!