About Annie’s Project

Annie’s Project is a risk management educational program that began in the Midwest and spread throughout the country. The name is derived from Annette Fleck, a real farmer who spent her lifetime learning how to be an involved business partner with her farmer husband. Her daughter, Ruth Hambleton, who became a Cooperative Extension educator in Illinois, created Annie’s Project.

Annie’s Project gives New Jersey farmers the tools to help them succeed by focusing on five areas of farm risk – marketing and pricing, production risk, financial management, human and personal risk, and legal risk. The course covers a wide range of topics including personal finance and business management practices, marketing plans, farm transfer and estate planning, using social media, advertising and media outreach, production record keeping, food safety issues, and more.

Participants learn about becoming better risk takers and risk managers. Topics and the course format foster problem solving, record keeping, and decision-making skills. At our conferences and courses, Rutgers University faculty/staff and farm professionals teach family finances, budgeting and cash flow, important financial documents, farm transfer and estate planning, business planning, understanding farm insurance policies, creating a positive work environment, motivating and retaining employees, leadership assessment and skills, generational issues and action planning.

Annie’s Project New Jersey is unique in that participants focused on creating farm business plans, used social media education for marketing and business development, employed social media tools to assist in networking during the sessions as well as after graduation.