BUILDING AMERICA’S NEXT GENERATION OF FARMERS - A VYFA Policy Challenge to USDA and FSA: Expand the Evidence, Not the Risk

Veterans & Young Farmers Alliance Calls for a Serious Review of How Managerial Experience Is Demonstrated by Beginning Farmers

To the leadership of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Farm Service Agency:

America has a farm succession problem.

We have an aging agricultural workforce, barriers to land access, rising costs of entering production agriculture, and a generation of potential farmers who are ready to work but often lack the traditional historical documentation used to demonstrate farm-management experience.

Veterans & Young Farmers Alliance (VYFA) believes USDA and the Farm Service Agency have an opportunity to address one part of that problem without lowering lending standards, weakening underwriting, or placing taxpayers at unnecessary risk.

We are asking USDA and FSA to seriously consider expanding the types of verifiable evidence that may be used to demonstrate managerial readiness for beginning farmers, particularly veterans and young farmers.

This is not a request to eliminate managerial experience requirements.

It is a request to examine whether the current system can recognize additional, independently verifiable evidence of competency and preparedness when traditional farm history does not yet exist.

We call this the:

Managerial Experience Paradox 22

The paradox is straightforward:

A beginning farmer may need documented experience to obtain financing, but may need access to land, capital, and an operating farm in order to create the documented experience required to demonstrate eligibility for that financing.

That circular barrier deserves attention.

WE ARE NOT ASKING USDA OR FSA TO LOWER THE BAR

VYFA wants to establish this point before anything else.

We support responsible lending.

We support appropriate underwriting.

We support meaningful experience requirements.

We support protecting taxpayer-backed programs.

We support making sure applicants understand the financial, operational, regulatory,

and management responsibilities associated with operating a farm.

We are not asking FSA to replace sound standards with a participation trophy.

We are asking a more precise question:

Does successful farm management have to be demonstrated exclusively through traditional historical farm records, or can additional forms of independently verified evidence help establish managerial readiness?

Those are two very different questions.

VYFA believes USDA and FSA should explore the second.

THE PROBLEM IS NOT ALWAYS A LACK OF EXPERIENCE

Sometimes the problem is a lack of documented agricultural ownership history.

That distinction matters.

Consider a veteran who has spent years managing personnel, equipment, logistics, budgets, schedules, maintenance, safety procedures, and complex operations.

That individual is not automatically qualified to manage a farm.

But neither should those management skills automatically be treated as irrelevant.

Now consider a young farmer who has completed agricultural coursework, worked on farms, completed supervised training, developed enterprise budgets, created a farm business plan, participated in agricultural internships, and demonstrated competency through structured evaluation—but has never owned a farm.

That individual may not have a traditional farm operating history.

But they may have substantial evidence demonstrating preparation.

The question becomes:

How should that evidence be evaluated?

EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCY ARE NOT ALWAYS THE SAME THING

Traditional farm experience is valuable because it demonstrates exposure to real agricultural decisions.

But experience itself is not automatically competency.

A person can spend years around agriculture without managing a profitable operation.

Conversely, an individual may develop meaningful management competencies through a combination of:

• Agricultural education

• Supervised farm work

• Apprenticeships

• Internships

• Agricultural employment

• Farm-management training

• Financial planning

• Business management

• Leadership experience

• Equipment management

• Safety training

• Risk management

• Mentorship

• Demonstrated decision-making

• Prior Learning Assessment

• Competency evaluations

• Documented agricultural projects

• Farm business planning

• Recordkeeping exercises

• Production planning

• Enterprise budgeting

VYFA is not suggesting these should automatically equal years of farm ownership.

We are suggesting that they may provide meaningful supplemental evidence.

That distinction deserves policy consideration.

VYFA'S PROPOSED SOLUTION: SUPPLEMENTAL EVIDENCE OF MANAGERIAL READINESS

VYFA is asking USDA and FSA to investigate the possibility of establishing a framework under which qualified beginning farmers could submit additional documented evidence of managerial readiness alongside whatever traditional evidence is already required.

Potential evidence could include, where appropriate:

1. Structured Agricultural Education

Completion of a documented agricultural curriculum covering relevant areas such as:

• Farm operations

• Financial management

• Farm business planning

• Risk management

• Agricultural law and compliance

• Safety

• Recordkeeping

• Production planning

• Marketing

• Farm management

2. Verified Hands-On Training

Documentation of supervised practical agricultural experience.

This could include:

• Farm internships

• Apprenticeships

• Supervised farm work

• Agricultural employment

• Livestock management

• Crop-production activities

• Equipment operation

• Farm maintenance

• Other documented agricultural activities

3. Competency-Based Evaluation

Instead of relying exclusively upon a calendar of years, an applicant could potentially demonstrate specific competencies through structured evaluation.

For example:

Can the applicant create and interpret an enterprise budget?

Can the applicant develop a realistic farm operating plan?

Can the applicant identify production risks?

Can the applicant establish appropriate recordkeeping systems?

Can the applicant explain cash-flow requirements?

Can the applicant identify applicable regulatory obligations?

Can the applicant demonstrate safe operating procedures?

Can the applicant respond appropriately to realistic farm-management scenarios?

These are measurable questions.

4. Farm Management Portfolio

A structured portfolio could provide FSA with a consolidated record of preparation.

A portfolio could include:

• Training records

• Certificates

• Evaluations

• Farm business plans

• Enterprise budgets

• Cash-flow projections

• Risk assessments

• Safety documentation

• Recordkeeping exercises

• Production plans

• Marketing plans

• Management assignments

• Supervisor evaluations

• Mentorship records

• Prior agricultural employment

• Documented hands-on experience

The portfolio would not simply say:

"I know how to farm."

It would provide evidence supporting the statement.

VETERANS PRESENT A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY

Veterans represent one of the populations VYFA believes deserves particular consideration.

Military service does not automatically create agricultural management experience.

But military service can create substantial transferable management experience.

Depending on the veteran's background, documented military experience may include:

• Leadership

• Personnel management

• Logistics

• Equipment management

• Maintenance

• Inventory control

• Safety procedures

• Scheduling

• Budget management

• Operational planning

• Risk assessment

• Compliance

• Documentation

• Decision-making under pressure

• Resource management

VYFA is asking USDA and FSA to consider whether documented transferable management competencies, when combined with agricultural education and practical agricultural training, could provide supplemental evidence of managerial readiness.

This is not a request to treat military service as equivalent to farming.

It is a request to stop treating potentially relevant management experience as invisible.

YOUNG FARMERS FACE THE SAME STRUCTURAL PROBLEM

The same issue applies to young farmers.

A young farmer may have the education but lack the land.

They may have the skills but lack the capital.

They may have worked on farms but never managed the entire operation.

They may have developed a strong business plan but lack the historical records that can only be produced after an operation exists.

This is where the paradox becomes especially difficult.

We tell young people that agriculture needs them.

Then we ask them to demonstrate a history they have not had the opportunity to build.

There has to be a pathway between:

"I have no experience."

and

"I have years of documented farm-management history."

That pathway is where VYFA believes structured education, supervised experience, competency evaluation, mentorship, and documented portfolios may have a role.

VYFA'S WORKSHOP MODEL IS DESIGNED AROUND THIS GAP

VYFA is developing its Workshop Training Academy around a simple principle:

Training should produce evidence.

Students are not merely exposed to agricultural concepts.

They are expected to demonstrate understanding through structured learning activities, assignments, scenarios, financial exercises, safety evaluations, business planning, recordkeeping, and other documented assessments.

The objective is to create a progression:

LEARN → APPLY → DEMONSTRATE → DOCUMENT → EVALUATE → IMPROVE

That process does not create a farm history where one does not exist.

But it can create something valuable:

a documented history of preparation.

VYFA believes USDA and FSA should explore whether properly structured evidence of this type can supplement traditional experience documentation.

WE ARE NOT ASKING FOR AUTOMATIC LOAN ELIGIBILITY

This distinction is critical.

VYFA is not proposing that completion of a VYFA workshop should automatically qualify someone for an FSA loan.

A certificate should not equal loan approval.

Training should not replace underwriting.

Education should not replace financial viability.

A business plan should not guarantee financing.

And a portfolio should not eliminate the need for appropriate due diligence.

Instead, VYFA is proposing that additional evidence may help answer one question within the broader evaluation:

Is this applicant prepared to manage an agricultural operation?

The financing decision would remain a financing decision.

The risk evaluation would remain a risk evaluation.

The question is simply whether USDA/FSA can gather more meaningful evidence before making that determination.

WHAT WE ARE ASKING USDA AND FSA TO STUDY

VYFA respectfully asks USDA and FSA to consider a formal review of the following:

1. Supplemental Evidence

Identify forms of evidence that may reasonably supplement traditional documentation of farm-management experience.

2. Competency Standards

Determine whether measurable farm-management competencies can be defined for beginning farmers.

3. Training Standards

Determine what characteristics a third-party agricultural training program would need to demonstrate before its documentation could potentially be considered as supplemental evidence.

4. Verification Standards

Develop safeguards for verifying:

• Training completion

• Hands-on participation

• Evaluator qualifications

• Competency assessments

• Mentorship

• Agricultural employment

• Portfolio documentation

5. Transferable Management Experience

Examine whether documented management experience from military service, business, trades, agricultural employment, or other relevant fields can appropriately supplement agricultural experience when combined with agricultural training.

6. Pilot Program

Consider a controlled pilot program involving qualified beginning farmers.

The pilot could evaluate whether applicants who lack extensive traditional farm history—but possess substantial verified supplemental evidence—perform comparably to other beginning-farmer applicants.

That would move the conversation from theory to evidence.

LET THE DATA ANSWER THE QUESTION

VYFA is not asking USDA to assume that our proposal will work.

We are asking USDA to test it.

A properly designed pilot could answer important questions:

• Do competency-based training programs improve loan readiness?

• Do structured portfolios provide useful information to loan officers?

• Can transferable management experience improve farm-management outcomes?

• Can supervised training reduce risk among beginning farmers?

• Does additional documentation help distinguish prepared applicants from unprepared applicants?

• Can these approaches expand access without increasing unacceptable default risk?

• Which forms of evidence actually correlate with successful farm operations?

These are measurable questions.

If the data shows that a proposed form of evidence has no predictive value, eliminate it.

If the data shows that certain evidence improves underwriting decisions, consider incorporating it.

That is how responsible policy should work.

PROTECT THE TAXPAYER. PROTECT THE FARMER. BUILD THE PIPELINE.

There is no conflict between these goals.

USDA and FSA have a responsibility to protect taxpayer-backed lending programs.

Farmers have a responsibility to operate responsibly and repay their obligations.

And America has a responsibility to develop the next generation of agricultural producers.

A modernized evidence framework could potentially advance all three objectives.

The goal should not be:

"How do we get more people loans?"

The goal should be:

"How do we identify more qualified people who can responsibly operate farms and provide them with a realistic pathway into agriculture?"

That is a much more responsible question.

THE MANAGERIAL EXPERIENCE PARADOX 22 MUST BE ADDRESSED

We cannot solve the agricultural succession problem by simply telling beginning farmers to "get experience."

Experience requires opportunity.

Opportunity often requires access to land.

Land requires capital.

Capital often requires financing.

Financing may require documented experience.

And documented experience may require the opportunity that financing is supposed to help create.

That is the paradox.

The system cannot demand that every beginning farmer already possess the history that only an established farmer could reasonably have.

There must be a bridge.

VYFA believes that bridge should be built with verified education, supervised experience, competency assessment, transferable management experience, mentorship, documentation, and measurable evidence of readiness.

Not shortcuts.

Not automatic approvals.

Not lower standards.

Better evidence.

A DIRECT CHALLENGE TO USDA AND FSA

Veterans & Young Farmers Alliance respectfully challenges USDA and FSA to take this issue seriously.

Don't eliminate managerial experience requirements.

Examine them.

Don't lower standards.

Expand the evidence used to demonstrate that those standards have been met.

Don't remove safeguards.

Build better verification.

Don't create automatic eligibility.

Create additional pathways for qualified applicants to demonstrate readiness.

And don't ask the next generation of farmers to prove a history they have never been given the opportunity to create.

Instead, ask:

What evidence would convince us that this person is ready?

Then build a system capable of recognizing that evidence.

AMERICA'S NEXT GENERATION OF FARMERS IS ALREADY HERE

They are veterans returning to civilian life.

They are young people looking for a future in agriculture.

They are farm workers who want to become operators.

They are agricultural students.

They are people entering farming from other careers.

They are people who have spent years learning but have never had the opportunity to hold the keys to an operation.

They are not asking for farming to be made easy.

They are asking for a chance to prove themselves.

VYFA believes they should have that chance.

And we believe USDA and FSA can help create it without sacrificing the standards that make agricultural lending responsible.

The question is not whether standards matter.

They do.

The question is whether the evidence used to demonstrate readiness can evolve to meet the realities of the next generation of American agriculture.

VYFA believes it can.

And we are asking USDA and FSA to explore that possibility with us.

OUR POLICY POSITION

Veterans & Young Farmers Alliance supports maintaining meaningful managerial experience requirements while advocating for the development and evaluation of additional, verifiable forms of evidence that may demonstrate managerial readiness among qualified beginning farmers.

We believe a potential framework should:

Maintain standards.

Protect taxpayers.

Preserve responsible underwriting.

Recognize transferable management skills.

Recognize verified agricultural education.

Recognize supervised hands-on training.

Recognize measurable competency.

Require strong documentation and verification.

Evaluate outcomes through data.

Create pathways—not shortcuts—for America's next generation of farmers.

THE CONVERSATION STARTS HERE

VYFA is ready to participate in the conversation.

We are ready to share our workshop framework.

We are ready to discuss competency-based documentation.

We are ready to discuss portfolio standards.

We are ready to discuss verification.

We are ready to discuss pilot-program design.

And we are ready to work with agricultural educators, experienced farmers, veterans, young farmers, lenders, USDA, FSA, and other stakeholders to determine what a responsible expanded-evidence model could look like.

Because the goal isn't simply to produce more applicants.

The goal is to produce more prepared farmers.

And America's next generation of farmers deserves a pathway to prove they are ready.

Veterans & Young Farmers Alliance

Serving Those Who Serve the Land.

We are not asking you to lower the bar.

We are asking you to give qualified beginning farmers more than one way to prove they can reach it.