Why Succession Planning Is Essential in Modern Agriculture
November 24, 2025 
An elderly gardener working in a nursery and making a business call. | Unai Huizi Photography via iStock
“Failure to plan is planning to fail,” Benjamin Franklin once said. Agricultural succession planning is critical to ensure that the next generation has a chance of success in these difficult financial times. As Franklin also wrote, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” It is a sobering but accurate statement, even more than 200 years later.
Where should farmers start? One critical question to ask early is whether you plan to pass on your assets to the next generation (estate planning) or transition a working business — assets and the knowledge necessary to earn a living (succession planning). Below, I have listed some of the more common issues that I have witnessed in my role at the National Agricultural Law Center in speaking with farmers from across the country on this topic.
Avoidance of Estate and Succession Planning
It’s unpleasant to imagine a world without you in it. And planning for that reality is even harder! However, planning is critical if you want the next generation to successfully transition into the role of managing operators.
American Farmland Trust estimates that up to 370 million acres of farmland could change hands in the next 20 years, since more than 40% of the nation’s farmland is owned by people over the age of 65. This transition will happen whether there is adequate planning or not.
Make transition planning a business priority just like paying your taxes, because both are inevitable. Good succession planning, not just passing on assets, but training the next generation on what they need to know to succeed, takes time.
Create Realistic Goals
There will be a transition from you to someone else, so what do you want this to look like? Do you have a successor in mind for your operation, or do you intend to sell off the farm’s assets to fund your retirement? Your attorney’s role in estate or succession planning is to help achieve as many of your goals as possible, but those goals must come from you.
Talk with your family and create realistic goals. If your goal is to have one of your children take over the family farm and none of your children are interested in this lifestyle, then you will need to modify your goal. Do you have a grandchild, niece, nephew, or some other person who is willing and capable of running the farm? Having realistic goals in place will speed the planning process and save money in the long run.
Equal May Not Be Fair
One difficult realization for many farm families is that they may not be able to give all children an equal share, especially if one or more will continue operating the farm.
The saying about farmers being “asset rich and cash poor” is an accurate statement for many farm families. These assets are often directly tied to the profitability of the farming operation, so the children that are transitioning over to managing the farm will need these assets to have a chance to succeed.
What about off-farm children? Parents do not want to be perceived as favoring one child over another, but there may need to be some disparity to give the on-farm children a chance to continue the family farming operation. However, it’s important to consider the labor that on-farm children provide during the transition. On-farm children’s sweat equity also should be valued.
There are ways to balance support for off-farm children while continuing the family farm, but you will need to work with an attorney to plan this type of scenario. Buyout agreements, business entities, trusts, leases, and a myriad of other tools are available to attorneys to help even the scales, but what is “fair” in your situation is only something that you and your family can decide. Regardless of the decision, talk with your children about why you are choosing this path forward. Your children’s relationship with each other will change when you are no longer around. You owe it to your children and grandchildren to give them the best chance of maintaining family bonds and communication through this difficult process. Communication is one of the best and cheapest ways to build a foundation that will last for generations.
This article is part of the ongoing series, “Transition Strategies,” from Growing Produce. Follow along at GrowingProduce.com for the next entry in the series.
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