Keeping farm in family requires strategy

McDONOUGH, Ga. -- One recent sunny morning at a 200-acre farm in this Atlanta suburb, three young girls sit at a table shucking just-picked corn. Nearby, a woman collects money from visitors for the corn and for pick-your-own blackberries. In the distance, workers tackle other farm chores.

It's an idyllic setting, just 30 miles south of the city, and Jimmy Carter, who is not related to the former president from Georgia, is in his element: His grandfather bought the farm in 1938, and Carter grew up here, then came back home to run it in 1975. Those are his grandchildren with the corn, and that's his wife, Kathy, greeting visitors. His son, Jake, is also here.

"Farming is something that's instilled in you that a lot of people don't understand," says Carter, 65. "There's something about nature, and the soil, and how the good Lord blesses us, to create a beautiful atmosphere to raise a family."

Now, Carter is working to ensure that Jake, 31, can carry on and keep the farm in the family. Seven years ago, Jake became partners with his father in this farm, just as Jimmy Carter had done a generation ago with his father.

"What we've done so far is we've formed a corporation," Jimmy Carter says. "We're 50-50 in it. That is the entity that runs the farming operation. At this time, the land is still owned by me. The goal we have this year is to decide what to do going forward with the land. We have the opportunity to purchase some adjoining land to expand the operation. We've made an offer. So we have to figure all that out."

It's called succession planning — laying out a road map for the future so that property passes from one generation to the next without a debilitating tax bite that could prevent children from taking over the family farm.

It's a critical matter for a nation trying to prepare the next generation of farmers.

According to the Department of Agriculture, family farms account for about 98% of all farms in the USA and for 85% of the nation's total agricultural output. About 70% of the nation's farmland will change hands in the next two decades, and recent surveys show that about 89% of farmers don't have a farm-transfer plan, according to the USDA.

If farm families fail to plan for succession, the farm is more likely to go out of business, be absorbed by larger farms or be converted to non-farm uses, according to the agency.

"It (succession planning) is extremely important," says Siva Sureshwaran, national program leader for USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture. "The average age of a farmer in the U.S. is 57. In any other industry, that would bother everyone."

The USDA also supports Land Link programs around the nation, such as California FarmLink, which connect retiring farmers and beginning farmers. The agency's Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program, started in 2009, trained more than 5,000 new farmers and ranchers in 2010, the most recent year for which data are available, Sureshwaran says.

"The next generation of people entering agriculture needs to be trained so they can be profitable and sustainable," he says.

But figuring out how to keep the family farm rolling — and in the family — is not just a one-and-done deal.