Farm succession planning workshops scheduled for Virginia and North Carolina farmers

The average age of a Virginia farmer is now 56 years old, and a large transfer of farm assets could occur over the next two decades. To address this important issue, the Virginia Cooperative Extension has scheduled two workshops on farm business succession planning during May in eastern Virginia.

“Comprehensive Approach to Farm Business Planning” workshops in Virginia are scheduled for Monday, May 16 at the Hickory Ruritan Club (2746 Battlefield Boulevard South) in Chesapeake, Va., and Tuesday, May 17 at the Airfield 4-H Center in Wakefield, Va.

Additional workshops in North Carolina are planned for Friday, April 22 at the Pitt County Extension Center in Greenville, N.C., and Monday, April 25 at the Iredell County Extension Center in Statesville, N.C.

Each program begins at 9 a.m. and will end by 3:30 p.m.

Who, if anyone, will assume their farming enterprise is a major question in the state’s agriculture industry. A large amount of valuable agricultural assets, especially land, could be permanently removed from production if succession planning does not occur.

"The risk of converting farmland to non-farm uses increases dramatically when farm families fail to plan for transition of the business to the next generation,” said Jesse J. Richardson, Jr., associate professor of urban affairs and planning in the College of Architecture and Urban Affairs at Virginia Tech. Richardson will be one of the speakers at the workshops.

From 1992 to 1997, more than one 1 million agricultural acres (on average) were taken out of production and developed each year. This rate is increasing.

“The workshops will specifically address the legal, financial and human resource risks that farm businesses face as they transition between generations,” Richardson said.

Aspiring and beginning farmers who attend the workshops can gain a greater understanding of the issues of partnering with an established operator. Farm business professional advisors (financial advisors, Extension agents, district conservationists) are encouraged to attend and learn more about issues affecting their clients.

Richardson said the workshops will be more in-depth than simple estate planning, with special focuses on lifetime transfers of farm assets, income sharing arrangements, and family communication.

These workshops were developed, in part, under a cooperative agreement between Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, Virginia Ag Vitality Program, North Carolina Cooperative Extension, the North Carolina Farm Transition Network, Inc., USDA’s Risk Management Agency and the Southern Region Risk Management Education Center.

For more information and agendas visit the Education Calendar at http://www.ncftn.org or http://www.www.rma.usda.gov.

Online registration is available at http://www.ncftn.org/workshop_registration.html.