1. Farm Coaching (for individual farm teams)

The University of Maine offers a farm coaching option which involves two University of Maine Farm Coaches who come to your  farm team for 4 sessions. This winter's focus is on supporting people in a variety of stages- Examples can be those who haven't had conversations about retirement or those who are struggling with being stuck in a part of the process. Coaching supports conversations and can help set goals and take steps. Coaching focuses on the human aspect of farming. 

More info-

https://extension.umaine.edu/maine-farmer-resource-network/farm-coaching-supporting-relationships-for-farm-success/

2. Succession Groups (In person has openings or Zoom) 

These groups involve six meetings, one per month for 6 months, 1.5 hours each. One group will be at the cooperative extension office in Augusta, and one group will be offered on Zoom. 

Goal- The goal of these groups is to explore what retirement, succession or steps towards succession would/could look like. The group members create a timeline for those goals as part of the groups. This group is ideal for people exploring the ideas of what succession/retirement would look like for the owners and the farm. 

A link to the page https://extension.umaine.edu/2025/11/04/farm-succession-planning/

3. Succession School 

Land for Good is offering an in person Succession School- once a month for three months, in person, in Augusta.  This is a more comprehensive planning workshop--3 full days (9:30am-3:30pm). This program has been running for years and has a tested agenda with action steps for farmers who are ready to lay out a succession plan. Steps include---what the incoming generation is looking for business planning wise, retirement considerations (both personal and financial), creating an advisor list (for estate planning, business planning, accounting etc), and more technical pieces of succession planning at these end of this you will end up with a comprehensive plan to implement. It is geared for those who are ready to build a succession plan and begin implementing that plan (even if it takes years to implement).  

A link to that page- https://landforgood.org/how/farm-succession-school/