<p>I see that a farm owned is not considered an investment farm for FAFSA reasons IF the farm is lived on and operated by the owner. In our case, we operate it but don't live on it. It is in 2 parcels that aren't connected to our acreage. My husband and his brothers all own some land that they all help each other farm when it's time to plant or harvest. They work together as a team but each one independently owns their own acres. I'm not sure how to classify this, and it will have an impact on the assets we would report, so I want to get it right. I've been trying to search for others in that situation who don't meet both criteria to get some advice. </p>
<p>Family owns farm and the value of the farm has to be established just as it does for any property. In your case, the value of the acreage owned rather than a prorata value by ownership % sicn each on owns own acres. Then the income as reported on tax forms. That’s how DH"s family reports the farm property they own. </p>
<p>OP, this is all just my opinion but I’m not sure that what constitutes a “farm” has to necessarily be contiguous land. How far is the acreage you live on from the fields that are worked? Does the farm constitute most or all of your family’s income? Do you store farm equipment on the acreage you live on or have any kind of farming activities there? I don’t know if it matters but it seems like this is the kind of family owned farm that fafsa wouldn’t consider an investment farm and doesn’t want to penalize regardless of whether you live contiguous to the farmed land.</p>
<p>See page 62 of this document, it words things a little differently than the actual fafsa question:</p>
<p><a href=“https://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/2014-15-completing-fafsa.pdf”>https://studentaid.ed.gov/sites/default/files/2014-15-completing-fafsa.pdf</a></p>
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<p>There’s also the statement about not including the net worth of a family owned and controlled small business with less than 100 employees.</p>
<p>Perhaps someone in this situation will post, because I don’t know for sure, just giving my thoughts. You could try calling fafsa.</p>
<p>Here is a document that Purdue uses to explain family farm vs. investment farm: <a href=“https://ag.purdue.edu/oap/Documents/Farming%20Families%20document.pdf”>https://ag.purdue.edu/oap/Documents/Farming%20Families%20document.pdf</a>.</p>
<p>I found this on the Iowa College Access Network’s website:<br>
We Are Farmers and We Live on Our Farm. Do We Report the Value of the Farm on the FAFSA?
If you live on your farm and you farm the land, it is considered a family farm and doesn’t need to be reported on the FAFSA (you do not need to include the value of land, buildings, machinery, equipment or livestock, etc.). Farmland that you own but is farmed or rented by someone else would be considered an investment farm, and the net worth would be reported on the FAFSA. If you have a question regarding whether or not your farm is a family farm, contact the financial aid office at your college.</p>
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<p>This does not really address your situation, since it does not sound like the farm is farmed or rented by someone else. I would suggest contacting the college to explain the situation and ask for their advice.</p>
<p>In our case and as is pretty common in this area, we have a couple different fields within a few miles of our house. . It’s not a lot of land but the farming income is probably around half of our annual income, maybe more. I am getting the contact info of a financial aid counselor who gave a presentation at our school tonight that I could not attend, unfortunately. I’m going to see what he/she has to say about this, too. Thanks for the replies so far. </p>