About AgFTAP

The Agricultural Finance, Tax and Asset Protection (AgFTAP) education program seeks to enhance farmer and rancher ability to understand and navigate the farm business tax and asset protection decisions for their operations, as well as the important relationships between federal income taxes and USDA farm programs. This mission is carried out through an online portal of educational trainings and resources.

Trainings focus on ag tax issues such as filing complete and accurate tax returns; business planning strategies; and asset protection such as managing future tax liabilities associated with debt-financed construction, loan servicing assistance, USDA program payments, asset sales, etc. Training efforts will:

  • Communicate the tax consequences of government payments.
  • Equip participants with strategic options to engage in estate planning, asset protection, tax planning, and business planning.
  • Build relationships between socially disadvantaged farmers and Extension educators.
  • Strengthen collaboration between 1862 Land-Grant Universities, 1890 Land Grant Universities, 1994 Land Grant Universities, and Hispanic Serving Institutions.
  • Include webinar, in-person, and/or hybrid delivery formats.
Trainings supported through the AgFTAP program include workshops for:
  • Tax practitioners, including an online certificate course conducted by tax educators.
  • Extension educators, providing communication and direction about FTAP program resources, tools, and timelines.
  • Farmers and ranchers, focusing on the links between tax laws, asset protection strategies and USDA programs.
FTAP Program Collaborators

The AgFTAP program is led by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture's Southern Risk Management Education Center. Center and AgFTAP Project Director, Ron Rainey, has strategically built upon the capacity of the land-grant system to develop a national program. The AgFTAP collaborative strategically leverages the on-going relationships of the ERME Centers and Land-Grant Extension farm management committees. The capacity of 1862, 1890 and Hispanic Serving Institutions leverages AgFTAP to engage in on-going communications to understand producer needs at the grass-roots level and to deliver impactful educational programming to diverse producer groups across the country.

All educational materials in AgFTAP are recommended by a curriculum advisory council or program partners, in addition to the Extension Tax Education Committee and the University of Arkansas Law School, LL.M program. The advisory council is made up of extension economists, academic leaders, and outreach professionals from the land-grant institutions, program collaborators and community-based organizations.

Collaborators