This is an interactive web-based tool based on the NRCS publication Taking the First Step: Farm and Ranch Alternative Enterprise and Agritourism Resource Evaluation Guide dated January 2004 on the NRCS website here It is a database driven application that allows users to collect and store the information for each farmer's and rancher's assessment of their natural, family, and community resources.

The tool can be accessed here: resourcesfirstfoundation.org/aea/

Communication may be the difference between an estate plan, which directs the transfer of assets, and a succession plan that helps transfer, from one generation to the next, the vision, the passion and the skills needed to be stewards of the land.

TIES TO THE LAND is a project funded and developed in Oregon, but they designed the curriculum with the intent that it be broadly relevant. Yes, tax laws and other rules and regulations are specific to a place, but family dynamics are universal.

TIES TO THE LAND is a collaborative project of Oregon State University Forestry Extension, the Austin Family Business Program at Oregon State University, the Oregon State University Forestry Media Center, and the Oregon Forest Resources Institute with assistance of members of the Oregon Tree Farm System and Oregon Small Woodlands Association and others.
Meet the development team that created TIES TO THE LAND

Check out samples of the curriculum here

ACF members operate in corporations, partnerships, and sole proprietorships with 1 to 100+ employees. Many are general foresters while others have professional specialties within forestry. Clients include landowners, forest industries, investment & financial industries, attorneys, government agencies, bankers, trusts, Native American corporations, and many others. Many operate within their own localities, while others consult worldwide.

The Fieldprint Calculator is a simple tool designed to help you begin to look at how your crop production operations impact the sustainability of your farm. This calculator is directly correlated to Field to Market's national level outcomes indicators for corn, cotton, soy and wheat. It provides general information based on the practices that are mostly likely to influence your energy use, climate impact, soil loss, and water use. They also consider your land use with respect to your level of productivity associated with the amount of acres in production. Future versions will include modules that factor in impacts to water quality and biodiversity as well.

Why is this a trial version?
These are complex topics, and we would like to get growers' feedback on what information and comparisons will be most helpful to them. Using that feedback we will continue to add information and functionality to the tool. Also, the calculator is incomplete as it does not have metrics to reflect the impact different practices have on water quality or biodiversity. As the Field to Market Alliance defines these metrics at the national level, they will be added to future versions of the calculator. Further, there are areas where scientists are evaluating the relationships between agricultural practices and environmental outcomes. For example, there is a recent debate on how much carbon is stored in conventional tillage systems. At this time, the calculator only assigns credit for no-tillage systems, and refinements will be made as additional studies are published. Check it out »

The CEPD is a work in progress assembled by the Stanford Conservation and Climate Change Drafting Committee and a number of CE professionals assisting in the work. Additional paragraphs will be added as they become available, and existing paragraphs will be edited or commentary added when reasons to do so become apparent.

Ann is requesting that users send any additional paragraphs and material to be added to the commentary and, most important, any corrections or qualifications that need to be added. With the help of Stanford Conservation and Climate Change Drafting Committee, and other conservation easement professionals, she hopes to be incorporating new and corrected material weekly so that the CEPD can become a more valuable tool for the land trust community.

Please send your comments and additions to Ann.

Please note: The CEPD is also not legal advice; various paragraphs conflict and many would be inappropriate to specific circumstances or under the law of particular States.

Check out the CEPD here

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