AgStar Financial Services will host its annual two-day GroundBreakers Conference this week.

The conference is an educational event for young, beginning and small farmers.

It is slated to begin at 1 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Minneapolis Marriott Southwest in Minnetonka.

Purdue University Distinguished Professor Dr. Michael Boehlje will be the featured speaker, presenting, “How to think like a CEO for your farm business.”

The conference also includes a presentation from Barron County, Wis. FSA Director Randy Cook will speak about the current available FSA government programs. Cathy Olson and Al Bennett from AgStar’s Lookout Ridge Consulting will discuss farm transitioning and succession planning for young farmers.

An entertaining presentation from Tim Gard, “Developing a Comic Vision,” concludes the conference.

Attendees are invited to a dinner reception following Friday’s presentations.

The conference is offered free of charge to AgStar clients because of a grant from the AgStar Fund for Rural America. The conference registration is full. For more details about this the conference, please call 866-577-1831.

AgStar’s GroundBreakers program serves over 7,000 young, beginning or small farmers. The program provides ongoing access to credit, related services and outreach programs to qualified individuals. AgStar recognizes the following classifications for the purpose of the program: young as age 35 or younger, beginning as 10 years or less farming experience, and small as generating less than $250,000 in annual gross sales. The program also provides tuition assistance to producers.