Three Conversations on Farm Succession

Today we released the final part of Dirt Rich’s Farm Succession Miniseries. Over the last three weeks, the podcast series has featured guests with varying experiences in farm transitions, succession, and estate planning: Megan Roberts, farmer and Executive Director of the Southern Agricultural Center of Excellence; Jerry Ford, SFA and Living Song Farm; and today’s guest, Jim Molenaar, a longtime Farm Business Management educator and “farm boy.” Jared Luhman is an apt host for these episodes, bringing questions and reflections from his own experience in the midst of a family farm transition.

In keeping with the sentiments of his fellow guests, Molenaar sums up the top three essentials for farm succession planning well: “communication, communication, and more communication.” To help you frame up your own succession conversations, Roberts, Ford, and Molenaar share several scenarios and practical tools across the three episodes. Even from different standpoints, none believe that the process is easy (though there is good support available), and all agree that it is important to start sooner rather than later.

Queue up Dirt Rich Episodes 49-51 while you’re in the field or in the truck, and stay tuned for more episodes after a brief break!

Episode 49: Family Farm Succession Planning with Megan Roberts

Episode 50: Transferring a Land Ethic Legacy Farm with Jerry Ford

Episode 51: Framing Succession Planning with Jim Molenaar, Farm Business Management Educator at the Northern Agricultural Center of Excellence

Listen to Dirt Rich anywhere you get your podcasts, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Podbean, and on the SFA website. Do you have ideas for future episodes? Comments? Drop us a line.