Starion Bank plans Legacy Agriculture Program

Starion Bank says it will launch a Legacy Agriculture Program. The new program will feature ongoing educational workshops covering urgent and timely topics like succession, soil health, financing and regenerative practices.

Starion said it also is pioneering a new line of agriculture financing products to serve Midwestern producers of all kinds.

Agricultural producers are suffering from a storm of volatile market prices, increasing costs for equipment and treatments, and thinning profit margins, the company said in a news statement. Today, nearly all operations require at least some off-farm income just to survive. Younger generations see the struggles of their parents and grandparents and decide that this isn’t the lifestyle they want.

“Between rampant consolidation and the lack of operations passing to younger generations, we’re seeing family farms and ranches disappear at an alarming rate. We want to help the industry reverse that trend,” said Starion CEO Don Morgan.

The upcoming workshops are the kickoff of Starion’s strategy to spark a resurgence of family- owned, multi-generational farms and ranches.

The Starion Bank Legacy Agriculture Program workshops begin in July 2022 with the Introduction to Regenerative Agriculture Practices. The school will be held July 19-20 at Black Leg Ranch near McKenzie and will emphasize cover crops, animal integration and multi-species grazing, all of which contribute to healthy soil.

“What we’re really starting is a mindset shift among agricultural producers,” Morgan said. “And it begins with the soil. Soil is the number one asset for any producer. To create a more profitable operation, you need to adapt the crops, animals, and practices to the land, not the other way around.”

In August 2022, the Starion Legacy Biological School, hosted at Coteau des Prairies Lodge in Havana, North Dakota will dig deeper into the subject of soil health, explaining how Starion Bank regenerative practices can restore soil and increase production yields without tilling or added chemical treatments.

The Starion Legacy Financial School in November 2022 will be in Bottineau, North Dakota. It covers the complex financial challenges of today’s producers, and how they can use new financial tools provided by Starion to transition their operations in a more regenerative direction.

Starion Legacy Succession School is in Bismarck towards the end of 2022 or early 2023. This school will help producers and their families navigate the thorny discussions of generational succession and provide tools and resources for them to develop their own proactive succession Plans.

To develop and run the workshops, Starion is partnering with Joshua and Tara Dukart of Seek First Ranch. The Dukarts are widely regarded holistic and regenerative educators and ranchers and have spoken on the subject around the United States and abroad. For more information, visit starionbank.com/legacy.

“We’re excited to share a different and holistic way of looking at our ag operations. The workshops will be an opportunity to learn, but also participate in challenging yet beneficial discussions,” said Joshua Dukart. “The speakers and facilitators will bring a lot of value and help producers develop practices and frameworks of their own to be more sustainable and Profitable.”

Kira Eliason North Dakota State University

Major: Environmental Engineering

Graduation Date: 2024

Career path: Interested in both research and consulting work