NPR - Agtransitions: Developing A Farm Business Transition Plan

The average age of U.S. farmers and ranchers is over 57 years old. Nearly 30 percent of U.S. producers are over 65 years old. This means that more than 650,000 U.S. producers need to make decisions about the future of their farm business in the next few years. This paper discusses on online tool, AgTranstions, designed to help producers develop a plan to transition their business to the next generation. The demand for transition planning has been increasing rapidly. Many educators state it is the topic most frequently requested in surveys about training needs. AgTransitions does not replace the need for transition planning workshops or advisors, rather it provides a tool to help agricultural professionals work more effectively with producers who want to develop a farm transition plan. Agricultural producers who know they should develop a transition plan often do not know where to start. AgTransitions provides a detailed outline that helps producers improve communication and work through all of the aspects of developing a thorough plan. Sections include gathering all of the pertinent information, sharing the vision and goals of both generations, determining how and when to transfer management, ownership, income, and labor, developing a retirement plan and preparing information to meet with an attorney to develop an estate plan. In addition to the comprehensive outline, AgTransitions provides tips or suggestions for each section of the plan, resource links to articles on specific topics, worksheets and a sample plan. An innovative feature of AgTransitions is a producer’s ability to give reviewers or advisors access to their plan and to interact with trusted reviewers as the plan is developed. AgTransitions, www.agtransitions.umn.edu, is free for anyone to use and is online, so it is available and being used by producers throughout the world.