Despite a host of challenges, there are still opportunities for young people to get into ranch or farm ownership if they don’t come to the table with deep pockets, says Laramie, Wyo., ranch broker James Rinehart, a partner in Western United Realty.

This will take a multipronged approach and out-of-the-box thinking. Rinehart says that the USDA, a number of states including Wyoming, and some private lenders all have financing programs in place that are designed specifically for beginning agricultural producers.

But to make dreams happen, he adds, it will likely take teaming up with older-generation producers, including those without children, and working with organizations like the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation.

On top of that are such necessities as developing a good reputation, working incredibly hard and arming yourselves with both experience and knowledge — not just with cattle and crops, but financial planning, business skills and risk management.

Rinehart says that forging relationships with older producers is important for a variety of reasons, including being able to overcome the lengthy application process of federal and state beginning rancher and farmer loans, which usually exceed six months.

A few examples
Wyoming’s Beginning Agricultural Producer loan program offers loans of up to $800,000 to beginning agricultural producers, which can be used to purchase land, livestock or equipment.

The state has approved a number of applications for such loans, including recent requests for:

• $669,125 by Boysen Lake Ag LLC and Jessica Sullivan of Shoshoni, Wyo., to buy 332 acres of irrigated cropland, 73 acres of rangeland, 25 acres of subirrigated land and 10 acres of land with improvements
• $628,220 by Michelle and Travis Rodewald of Torrington, Wyo., to buy 257 acres of pivot-irrigated cropland, 60 acres of side-roll-irrigated land, 55 acres of pasture, 20 acres of dry cropland and 10 acres of land with improvements
• $480,760 by Ty Lerwick of Cheyenne, Wyo., to buy 742 acres of dry cropland, 34 acres of rangeland and a state grazing lease with 528 animal unit months
• $355,000 by Michael Mitzel of Sheridan, Wyo., to buy 260 acres of irrigated cropland, 80 acres of subirrigated land and 80 acres of dry cropland
• $294,000 by Jennifer and Will Snidecor of Daniel, Wyo., to buy 135 acres of rangeland, a state lease with 692 animal unit months, a Bureau of Land Management lease with 846 AUMs and 5 acres of land with improvements; they secured a $56,000 loan from an outside financial institution to help complete the transaction

More information about Wyoming’s Beginning Agricultural Producer loan program is at slf-web.state.wy.us/GrantsLoans/FarmLoans/loanpack.pdf.

Waggener writes from Laramie, Wyo.