We are more interested in the farm business instead of the farmland, explains John Baker, an attorney with the Beginning Farmer Center. And in Iowa, most of us are not so much interested in passing on the family farm as in passing on the family land. That survey showed several potentially disturbing numbers, Baker says. It showed of more than 400 farmers surveyed, more than 70 percent had not identified a potential successor to the farm business, and 45 percent had not made an estate plan. He stresses farmers can do as well or better financially by actually passing on a business instead of just selling or passing on land.
Land is different.
There s a pride in land ownership, Harl says simply. A satisfaction devised from wealth. And there s nothing wrong with that. But it affects our approach to some of these business issues.