The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast
The Farmer's Greatest Asset podcast is dedicated to supporting and empowering farmers by recognizing that their greatest assets are the knowledge, experience, mind and health. Hosted by husband-and-wife duo Jesse and Dr. Leah, this podcast combines their unique backgrounds to provide valuable insights. Together, they explore topics that help farmers thrive both personally and professionally. Tune in for a blend of practical advice, real conversations, while having a little fun along the way as they talk about all thing's agriculture and family.
The Farmer's Greatest Asset Podcast
When the land means more than dirt
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We explore the deep emotional connection farmers have to their land and the importance of legacy planning to preserve family farms for future generations.
• Farmland represents more than monetary value—it carries the blood, sweat, and tears of previous generations
• Creating a mission statement and core values provides clarity for farm succession planning
• Open communication between family members helps prevent conflict and preserves relationships during transitions
• Next-generation farmers benefit from gaining outside experience before taking on full farm responsibilities
• Non-farming heirs should understand options beyond selling inherited land
• Keeping farmland in the family can provide long-term investment benefits versus a one-time sale
• Documentation and facilitated conversations help families work through difficult succession planning topics
Go share it, like it, leave us a comment, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify or wherever you're listening. Send us a note at farmersgreatesasset@gmail.com. We'd love to hear from you and the workbook is now available. So if you want to have a place to put the farmer's brain on paper, order the workbook. It's available on our website, thefarmersgreatesasset.com, and don't forget, it's a good day to have a great day.
The Farmer's Greatest Asset podcast. We believe the farm's greatest asset is the farmer, their knowledge, experience, mind and health. Welcome, I'm Jesse and I'm Dr Leah. Today, I guess we're going to talk a little bit about it.
Speaker 2all pertains to legacy, Preserving your legacy.
Speaker 1Preserving the legacy and passing it on passing the torch.
The Emotional Value of Farmland
Speaker 2So in the Farmer's Greatest Asset, the workbook, we actually spent quite a bit of time talking about preserving the legacy of the farm. We both, and many farmers out there, have had land passed down to them for from generation to generation to generation, and so the the land is worth more than just its value in dollar signs to a farmer right and we as farmers are very passionate, or emotional about our, our land.
Speaker 1It's all a lot of emotion.
Speaker 2Well, it's. It's because it is more than just the dirt right. It is about the blood, sweat and tears of your father, your grandfather, your great grandfather, all of those gentlemen and women who worked so tirelessly to get it to us, to you, the farmer.
Speaker 1So even interestingly enough, one of our landlords was back in Iowa and just stopped by to talk to her the other day and she was very. She knew all of the history and is very proud of all of the land that her family owned and that her son is now coming. There's still a farmhouse there, so her son is coming up to live in the farmhouse and she was just talking about how big. So back in the day she was talking about her great grandfather. So she's retired from work, so let's assume 60. So her great grandfather would have been 100 plus years ago, right 150 years ago. And the way she explained it she never said an acre number, but 150 years ago. It sounded like they owned almost the section right there, or at least a half a section wow so that's 300 plus acres.
Speaker 1She talked about how one parcel got sold off for a couple kids and this parcel got sold off because of other financial issues or something to that effect, and then how her family come to own what they still all their. You know what was their family? Funny enough, now we, we own all of that. They still have a farmstead there. Right, but we own all of that. They still have a farmstead there.
Speaker 1But we own all of the farm ground around it. But even her, not being a farmer, she is still very passionate about that whole history and she is just ecstatic to this point that they still own the homestead, the farm, maybe five acres there, or something that she still owns. So then we take it a whole step further, because we're farmers and we work the ground and we're very passionate about it. We're very proud of what we do.
Speaker 2Well, and it's not just what you do, it's the tradition, it's what it signifies, the importance of that generational legacy I don't know that there's a better word out there to use.
Building An Empire for Your Children
Speaker 1So, anyway, kind of the discussion we were going to talk about today is just preserving that and passing it on and how things can be handled to do your estate planning and legacy planning and succession right. Succession planning is, to me, is just passing it on to the next generation. So for us us we've talked about our kids, we want our kids to come back and we hope that they do, and what is our plan to pass it on? We are trying to. We kind of like to say we're trying to build a empire here for our kids to stick around. So we have said to henry, you need to move away and go get a job or do something, whatever it is you want to do, and and the farm will always be here. But we've said, when you come back you're going to have to work for the farm, right, but we want to set it up.
Speaker 2And build your own thing. Like you got to have something that's yours.
Speaker 2If you start your own side gig, whatever it is, Right, just so that you have experience in business where you can grow and fail and it not be on such a large scale like our farming operation would be. And I think that that experience, with him going somewhere else, learning under someone else whether it be for a farm or another type of entrepreneur, and just learning what's different than what we do, and him coming back and having to start his own business, is going to grow him without all of that pressure of all the generations ahead of him and what that means and the dollar amounts that are in a row crop operation and a cattle operation. That isn't. I mean, we are not like substantial, but we have a lot of dollars in there.
Speaker 2And that's a lot of pressure to put on a 20-something-year-old kid. So he definitely, if he chooses to come back, is going to have to look into doing his own little side business to get his feet wet.
Speaker 1But we've also said you've got to work for the business. So even now we've had him clocking in to make him feel like he is important. So when he comes back he's going to have to work for the farm and we can slowly transition him into whatever leadership role, or you know whether it's starting to manage the cow herd or manage the the cattle feeding well, and we have the girls that are going to be going away and figuring out what they want to do and deciding whether or not they want to be part of it and how they're going to be tied into the operation as well, before we make all of these big decisions for these young kids.
Speaker 1But I guess the big thing is is we're very open and honest and we talk about it.
Mission Statements and Core Values
Speaker 2Like even now at 17, 16 and 13,. We talk about our business and and they see our values. I think probably the number one thing that we have done is create a mission statement and values for our farm. So whenever you question your path and where you want it to go in looking back and going forward.
Speaker 1It's got to follow those values. It follows those values.
Speaker 2That would be one of the first things that someone can do for their farm.
Speaker 1I know, when we actually come up with our core values, it was it actually gave us a clear vision of what we're trying to accomplish. But when I see those, I'm like, okay, yes, that's our vision. It just helps me remember every day Yep, this is what we're doing. This is why we're doing it.
Speaker 2Well, and when we built the farmer's greatest asset and we were working on the workbook, it was vital in showing us. That statement was the mission statement was vital in showing us the path that we wanted to take in order to help others.
Speaker 1Things became very clear and very meaningful. I was like yep, okay, this is why we're doing it and this is where we're going. It gave me my true purpose myself, and then it also made the whole Farmer's Greatest Asset. It's clear vision.
Speaker 2When talking about succession planning and or estate planning, so you're going to do one or the other. I mean, succession planning is estate planning, but if you don't have somebody to pass it on to, then it would be estate planning. The first step is create your mission statement and your values so that when you are working through the process there's clarity, like you said.
Speaker 1Right. So if you don't have kids involved and you're going to pass the land or machinery or whatever on to your kids, do you have that discussion? Do they know what you want?
Speaker 2Well, do you know what they want? This is why you know these are.
Having Difficult Family Conversations
Speaker 2These are very important things to talk about with your kids. You know, if you don't have anybody that's working on the farm and you're farming, even though they live away, they might not automatically want to not be a part of the farming operation. Like there are so many options out there for families and you can tailor your succession planning to fit what you want as well as what they want. Maybe you have one kid who's like I've always just kind of been waiting and I'm ready to retire from my job in town or at such and such city, that they want to come back and work on the farm or want to manage the farm and hire people to work on the farm, or they want to be part of the farm and be like a landlord of the farm farming operation. But there's so many different things that you can do.
Speaker 1It's a good time to sit down and talk to your kids about what they would want, even and that's the first main thing that you see with everybody, every farm that nobody talks about it, nobody has a discussion, whether it's the parents or the kids, of what either one would like to happen parents or the kids of what either one would like to happen.
Speaker 2Well, I think that the people who are extremely successful and don't have such disgruntlement amongst siblings I think that it is successful because they have had the conversations and, in the end, mom and or dad have decided after they have heard everything out. I think that that is the best way to proceed forward with all of it is having those conversations, so there isn't hard feelings. I mean because, in the end, what you really want is siblings to move through all of it and still have a relationship with each other, because so many times it comes to the farm and everybody wants something different and it was never discussed and everyone is upset and we've seen it happen with so many families that it's it's sad, and we're coming to a point in history where there are a lot less farmers, a lot less people on the farm. So there will be this generation of farmers that doesn't necessarily have anybody to pass down the farm to, that is working on the farm and having those discussions can potentially keep your family together.
Speaker 1It's pretty simple to just have the conversation and get it all out there.
Speaker 2It's it's hard and it's simple, all at the same time, absolutely.
Speaker 1And that's why we had the conversation, because it's it's hard and nobody wants to upset anybody, you know, but in the end the ground becomes weaponized. You know, we've heard Rob Sharkey say that and that's his point Don't weaponize the ground. And a simple conversation could eliminate a lot of obstacles, and that's kind of the point of some of the workbook and that it'll spark conversations to document what mom and dad want, what the kids want, even if there's grandparents and parents and if there's three or four generations involved. There's a lot of families that depend on farms. Being open and honest is where it needs to be and everybody's afraid to have the conversation, and I get it because we've been there. We're there.
Speaker 2Well, I think the hardest part of it is it really is kind of a slap in the face of mortality and how close it is for our parents' generation. So you and I talking about it with our kids feels easier because for us it's very far in the future. You know that is our assumption, that it's going to be quite some time. So as we start talking through it and thinking through it then it doesn't seem so close, I think, our parents' generation.
Speaker 2it gets more difficult because it gets more difficult because it's not as far away and it's probably a hard loss of identity and a hard pill to swallow, like this could be this could be next month, or this could be 15 years down the road, who knows, we don't know. At that point it's you know they're losing friends, they're losing family members and it can be difficult to move forward and, like, question your mortality, like how much longer do I have here?
Speaker 1But all the more important to start having the conversation.
Speaker 2Well, but we've also talked in the past about how easy it is to avoid, because having those conversations is really uncomfortable because there's a lot of vulnerability that comes out and it's not easy to be that vulnerable.
Speaker 2I think that people fear what can come out of it, like oh, they're going to be mad at me or they're going to get mad and start fighting with each other, but the other side is not seen as well.
Speaker 2We could all sit down as a family and really work this out together and then there won't be any question and how rewarding would that be for the parents of that situation. Like you know what, we all sat down and we kind of worked through this workbook together. I got to see where they are and how they feel like they could play a role and how important the farm was to them and growing up on the farm was to them. And now it makes me feel so good as their parent that I gave them that experience and now I can hand that down to them, knowing that they at least have a place to start on their path together, owning this farm together, or what they're going to do as they move through their life. I think that it could be a beautiful situation, for you know a time. And ending to another chapter.
Options for Non-Farming Heirs
Speaker 1You know. So then there's the whole other thing. If there is no, there are no kids whatsoever. An example somebody is inheriting farm ground they have never farmed you know maybe a mixed marriage situation or something and they're inheriting ground. They have never been on a farm. They don't know what to do.
Speaker 2Like what are their options?
Speaker 1Like there are so many options that they have no idea. They're even an option.
Speaker 2Those are really important conversations to have, most certainly especially for an individual who has worked their life and is giving this great gift to a family member. Like there can be fear on both sides of that and how can that be worked through together to see that a gentle passing of all of it right so, everybody, that those fears can be alleviated on both sides right.
Speaker 1so if you're never, have never been on the farm and somebody's passing something on to you that like you need to have a conversation with them of what they would like you to see you do with it as farmers at least my way I feel is like I would love to see our kids keep the ground, whether they're farming or have town jobs or whatever. I'd like to see them keep the ground. Well, it's just good supplemental income.
Speaker 2Well, it's an investment.
Speaker 1It's an investment, so I'd like to see our kids when the time comes. If they're not on the farm, keep the farm ground and try to rent it out.
Speaker 2A big part of that, though, is education on what that actually means to them. So I think about you know, let's say, if you have an uncle who has children, that they all have moved away but he owns farm ground and they don't know what to do with it If he hasn't talked with them about all of the possibilities of how they could be getting an annual income and supplemental income and having a corporation that they don't really have to run, that they don't really have to run. There are so many things that you could do to keep that farm in the family, but you have to educate the people who it's getting passed to so they understand what this actually means for them and how much of an investment opportunity it could possibly be, so that that farming legacy can still be there and in the family, even though they aren't the actual farmer that's farming it.
Speaker 1Right To me there are so many more benefits. Even if there are multiple kids, say three or four, there are so many benefits to them keeping the the ground, owning the ground and renting it out or having someone custom farm it or you know. There are so many options that we could go on for forever. About um crop, share it, different things, but to me, if they just up and sell it, they got to pay the taxes and all that stuff and and they get a huge influx of cash.
Speaker 2But one time one time it.
Speaker 1It is an investment.
Speaker 2It is it's a long-term investment, whereas if it just got sold it's a just a quick one-time payday and then, yes, it's a large taxable event like a big taxable event and you might get a big check, but you'll end up probably paying less taxes on a annual supplemented rent check once or twice a year. There's just so many different things that people could do.
The Importance of Farm Legacy Education
Speaker 1I like to see family farms get passed on and stay in the family, even if there aren't kids farming it, and then they could rent it out Again. We're so passionate and emotional about our ground that's just me, but a lot of people don't understand the benefits either.
Speaker 2And it's. I'm sure it becomes overwhelming, and so it's easy to just be like, yeah, let's just sell it. I don't know. I don't know what to do and rather, you know, I don't want to get into all of that and I don't want to create animosity between me and my siblings. Let's just all of it, just go. And then we don't want to create animosity between me and my siblings, let's just all of it just go.
Speaker 2And then we don't have to worry about it moving into the future, and that, to me, shows a lack of education of what they could potentially do with that investment. All of that being said, it's important to sit down with your family and talk about it and have the conversations and they really are are only as hard as you make them the hard thing is the right thing, right.
Speaker 2So, yes, it is a hard conversation, we're there but if you have that mission and your value set determined, you know, for your farm, for your farming operation, it will help you gain more clarity. Like we had said before, absolutely. And then the next step is to start having those conversations with your family, see who may have interest, see who doesn't have interest and what's going to be best for your family. We'd love to hear from all of you on what's happening with your farms and we'd also really love to hear from all of you if you have questions or concerns or what problems you are coming up with.
Speaker 1Solutions to the problems.
Speaker 2And solutions to those problems and as we grow the community, this will be a really big topic for us in helping all those agricultural families out there to have a place to go to, to kind of run things by each other.
Speaker 1Figure out the estate planning, succession planning, whether there's kids on the farm, you know, kids that aren't on the farm, whatever. So go share it like, like it.
Speaker 2Leave us a comment subscribe on apple podcasts or on spotify or wherever you're listening send us a note at farmers greatest asset at gmailcom.
Speaker 1we'd love to hear from you and the workbook is now available.
Speaker 2So if you want to have a place to put the farmer's brain on paper, order the workbook. It's available on our website, thefarmersgreatestassetcom, and don't forget.
Speaker 1It's a good day to have a great day.
Speaker 2Bye y'all.
