Latest News From Succession Planning

Whether you’re 35 or 65, things happen. Don’t risk the future of your farm by putting off your succession plan. Get started, make a plan and put it into action.

Matt and Lisa Moreland hoped at least one of their sons would return home to farm after college. What they didn’t anticipate? All three sons wanted to come back. Here are four things the family learned in the process.

When you hear of a new record sale of farmland it raises eyebrows — and your farmland’s worth. With this key asset rapidly increasing in value, you need to analyze your estate plan. 

You’ve heard the horror stories. The ones about farm families who spend months in court fighting over assets. The result? A destroyed business and fractured family. Why does this situation play out over and over?

There can be huge costs -- monetarily and in human capital -- if you don’t set up the structure of succession well, say Paul Neiffer, with CliftonLarsonAllen, and Rena Striegel, Transition Point Business Advisors.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and Rep. Cindy Axne joined AgriTalk with host Chip Flory and Pro Farmer Policy Analyst Jim Wiesemeyer recently to comb through President Biden’s reframe of the Build Back Better (BBB) plan.

The Proposed Transfer Tax can actually eliminate net equity for many farm families and cause their heirs to be underwater. It can be much worse than the current or proposed estate tax for most farmers.

It’s time. You need to finally make your farm’s succession plan a priority. As you take a first or second or 20th step in the process, shoot to avoid some common landmines.

Top Producer's Executive Women in Ag gets underway Jan. 28. Registration is open.

If you have children working on the farm, be sure to pay them a wage, says Paul Neiffer, the Farm CPA. The tax benefits can be worth it.

A good working relationship is based on mutual respect and absolute trust.

With one notch in their belt marking their first year of full-time farming, these young bucks already have stories to tell and experiences to share.

There is no better training ground than an off-farm occupation.

The Tracy Ranch marked the rare sesquicentennial milestone in 2012 validating the struggles of five generations of California farming.