NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RFD-TV) — Passing the farm on should not be guesswork. With margins tight and operators aging, the stakes for rural communities — land stewardship, jobs, and local tax bases — are rising fast.
While nearly 70 percent of farmers planned to transition by 2025, according to AgAmerica, only one in four families has a formal succession plan — even as family farms make up 95 percent of U.S. operations and nearly half of all farmland could change hands over the next 20 years.
The backdrop is not easy.
The U.S. lost more than 140,000 farms from 2017 to 2022, plus another 20,000 since; total farms have dipped below two million; and farmland has fallen to about 880 million acres. Average farm size has grown by 20 acres — nudging more estates into potential federal tax exposure. One-third of producers are 65 or older, while fewer than one in ten is under 35.
Practical steps help
Set clear goals; talk early and often; use asset-splitting or long-term buyouts for multiple heirs; choose tools for machinery, livestock, and land transfers; and lean on pros — tax advisors, ag mediation, and lenders — to structure a durable, affordable plan.
Farm-Level Takeaway: Treat succession like any major crop — plan early, document clearly, and calibrate cash flow so the next generation can succeed.
Tony St. James
One drawback of co-equal ownership in estate planning is the right of partition of a co-owner. That’s a particularly acute problem when parents have both on-farm and off-farm heirs.
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A family settlement agreement is one method to resolve financial conflicts among family members over assets—if executed properly, that is.
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In this
Firm to Farm blog post, RFD-TV agri-legal expert Roger McEowen tackles a handful of topics related to property rights.
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What is “gross income from farming” for purposes of Chapter 12 (farm) bankruptcy – that is the topic of today’s
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In today’s Firm to Farm blog post, Roger McOwen breaks down the Court’s regulations on unconstitutional federal power and the ruling’s impact on BOI reporting.
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The topic of this Firm to Farm blog post by RFD-TV agri-legal expert Roger McEowen is a potpourri of legal issues facing farmers and ranchers—farm bankruptcy, sovereign immunity, farm leases, and pipeline damages.
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What can these facilities do to protect themselves? I wrote about this issue last spring, and since that time, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has issued a significant opinion. That makes an update in order.
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On January 31, the U.S. House overwhelmingly passed tax legislation containing provisions of importance to farmers and ranchers in particular and many taxpayers in general.
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In this Firm to Farm blog post by RFD-TV legal expert Roger McEowen, he looks ahead at what might be the biggest issues in ag law and tax in 2024.
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