What’s to become of the family farm?
As America’s farming population gets older, an increasing number of small and medium-scale farmers are grappling with the question of when and how to retire, and whether to keep farms in the family, rent out their land, or sell.
More than one-third of farmers in the US are over the age of 65, up 26 percent in the period between 2012 and 2017, when the most recent USDA census took place. And despite growing rates of consolidation, family farms make up 98 percent of US farms, meaning that intergenerational handoffs have historically made up a significant portion of ownership changes.
Indeed, of the 10 percent of all farmland expected to undergo a transfer of ownership between 2015 and 2019, only about a quarter was expected to be sold between nonrelatives, according to USDA survey data. The rest was to be transferred via trusts, gifts, wills, and sale to a family relative.
But with complex financial pressures, family dynamics, and the preferences of younger people at play, there’s no one-size-fits-all story of what happens when farms change hands.
That’s where you come in. We’re collecting stories and experiences of real farm families to inform future reporting on this topic. We want to know: What has your experience been? What issues have you encountered? How does it feel to keep the farm in the family, or not?
We would love to hear from you, especially if you are:
- An owner-operator navigating who will take over the farm when you retire or pass away.
- A child or other relative of a farmer who has taken over farm operations, or plans to in the future.
- A child of a farmer who has decided not to take over the family farm.
To share your experience, please leave a comment at the bottom of this article, or email us at info{at}modfarmer{dot}com using “Family Farm” in the subject line. If we decide we’d like to know more, we may contact you for a future story about succession on the family farm.
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