Yes, you can save the family farm!

Year after year, we hear about losing farm after farm and declining agricultural economies. But one proven way to stop this trend is the “family farm transfer.” While passing the family farm from parents to children may sound warm and fuzzy, it can be very complex. Tax laws, legal issues and differences of opinion within families can challenge even the best intentioned, forcing some families to sell their farms.

A new booklet published by the State Agriculture Development Committee called “Transferring the Family Farm: What Worked, What Didn’t, for 10 New Jersey Families” is a great primer for doing just that: passing the family farm from one generation to the next.

Many of the farmers interviewed agree that it’s important to get started as soon as possible.

Older generations may struggle with relinquishing control of what has been their long-time home. Senior family members may have the forethought to start the process early on, but the younger generation may need to broach the sensitive subject with their parents.

Here are some New Jersey examples.

The Suydam family in Somerset County formed a Family Limited Partnership (FLP) when son Abe realized his parents were aging and he wanted to continue to farm the family land. Abe knew it would be a challenge to persuade his parents to look at transferring the ownership of the farm. But with persistence and legal help the FLP ended up controlling the farmland and buildings, and Abe became the “general partner.” His mother, father and their other children and grandchildren became “limited partners.” Both an accountant and a tax attorney were used to set up the plan.

There are many ways to address each unique family situation when transferring farm ownership.

Don Bostrom, farmer/owner at Sun High Orchard in Randolph, thinks it’s a must that at least one family member is committed to the farming operation. His daughter Brenda attended college, married and started a family of her own, and has now returned home to the farm. Don bought the whole farm by buying out his two brothers with funding from the State Farmland Preservation Program. Don is now planning to transfer the farm to Brenda and has prepared an estate plan.

Once a dairy farm, the Donaldson Farm in Hackettstown diversified into three separate businesses, each run by the Donaldson sons. The creative marketing arrangement includes selling fruits and vegetables, field crops and greenhouse/nursery plants and was developed by the three sons who were willing to compromise. There are many benefits to this structure, including sharing equipment, cooperative land use decisions, and selling and purchasing from each other as needed. Clean records of sales and shared labor avoid disagreements.

What started as an extremely difficult process for Bob Muth and his family at Muth Farm in Gloucester County, finally resulted in success, with Bob as manager of the 45-acre farm, nine acres of which are certified organic. Bob leases the land from a family trust. The Cooperative Extension Service was invaluable in helping his family find a good estate planner; Bob strongly recommends hiring an expert.

If no family member wants to farm the land, but the family would like to see it both farmed and preserved, they can enroll the land in the State Farmland Preservation Program and find a farmer to lease the land, or sell the farm, once it’s preserved.

To learn more about these options, see “Transferring the Family Farm,” available online at www.state.nj.us/agriculture/sadc/farmowners.htm. For more information about the N.J. Farm Link Program, contact David Kimmel at (609) 984-2504.

The Farm Link program serves as a resource and referral center for new farmers, farmers seeking land and farming opportunities, landowners seeking farmers, and farmers working on estate and farm transfer plans. You can also contact Growing New Farmers at (413) 323-9878 or by visiting

www.growingnewfarmers.org.

Michele S. Byers

executive director

New Jersey Conservation Foundation

Far Hills