Succession planning for farmers, ranchers aided by California FarmLink course

Of all the challenges farmers face year after year, the most daunting challenge may be figuring out how to navigate the farm business succession process. If you’re a farmer or rancher planning to retire in the near future, the path toward a successful farm land and business transition may seem insurmountable.

Retiring farmers with identified successor generations, related or not, are invited to submit an application to participate in California FarmLink’s new succession program, The Regenerator: A Year of Farm Succession Planning. This 12-month course, starting in November near Sacramento, will work with a small cohort of farm families and their successors – ‘teams’ – to generate plans that support transition to the next generation. Participants will convene monthly to learn from professionals, compare notes with their peers, and work step-by-step to plan for their financial and family well-being, and the health and continuity of their working farms and ranches.

The Regenerator takes a multi-faceted approach to farm succession planning. Participants will work with their own farm operators, identified successors and family members to create a personalized succession plan.  Monthly meetings will feature in-depth presentations by professionals covering a range of topics including:

• Communication, intention setting and team-building
• Business valuation, structure, and transition of management
• Retirement, estate and tax planning
• Farmland conservation planning
• Creative approaches and financing strategies for land and business transfers

Participants will gain an understanding of the essential components of a good farm succession plan, strategies and creative tools to reach goals, and a plan that’s ready to launch. California FarmLink’s intention is to build farmers’ resilience by facilitating plans that will sustain farms and ranches into the next generation.

Applications for the course are due July 1.

Read more here, including a link for applicants