01/03/2025 – Why You Should Attend The Family Farm Masterclass

I have recently taken over the entirety of our family farm crop operations, making me officially the sixth generation to do so on a farm that started in 1898.  It would be my desire for my son, if he so chooses, to someday be the seventh generation.   While my son is very young, I think farm succession gets put off way too late.  I have personally witnessed progressive farm families only begin to seriously ponder their estate planning AFTER the patriarch lay in the hospital bed having suffered a major health episode.  It was as if they suddenly realized that their parents were not going to live forever.  It was then left to the siblings on how to decide how to split things up.  Unfortunately this happens more often than you may think.   In another more personal example, my late father-in-law called his children into the office one random day a couple of years ago (along with me who sat quietly in the corner).  He made a surprising announcement that he had transferred the bulk of the farming assets into a new holding company and made his three children the owners.  He did sort of wait until the last…