A22-Unc«ter Farming, Saturday, April 1, 2000
To Transfer Farm Estate:
Communicate, Seek
Advice, And Begin Early
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
GAP (Lancaster Co.)
There are no “cookbook” reci
pes for passing on the farm, ac
cording to the director of a
family farm transfer advocacy
group.
But several things are critical,
according to Marion L. Bowlan,
executive director of Pennsylva
nia Farm Link: early planning
for the transfer of the estate,
open communication, and seek
ing the right legal advice.
Bowlan and several estate
transfer planning experts spoke
Wednesday to about 74 land
owners and potential farm
owners at the Passing On The
Farm Workshop at the Gap
Diner in Gap.
Bowlan quoted USDA statis
tics nationwide: the average net
return for a typical farm is about
$23,000, which provides only
marginal living. An even more
striking statistic: though 90 per
cent of farms in Pennsylvania
are owned by the family, only 30
percent are successfully trans
ferred to the second generation,
15 percent to the third, and only
6 percent to the fourth.
Pennsylvania Farm Link,
noted Bowlan, is a nonprofit or
ganization in its third year of op
eration dedicated to creating
farming opportunities for the
next generation. The organiza
tion includes a board of direc
tors assembled from farms, the
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American Farmland Trust,
Penn State Cooperative Exten
sion, the state Grange, the state
departments of agriculture and
education, Pennsylvania Farm
Bureau, and other groups.
The program began as a way
to link prospective younger
farmers with those farmers who
were retiring. But since then,
services have been expanded to
include an educational compo
nent and workshops to address
the issues of family farm estate
transfers.
A new apprentice program
will involve a dozen farmers
who volunteered to work with
high school kids on educating
and training the “next genera
tion” about farming, Bowlan
noted.
Bowlan said that according to
1997 statistics, 17 percent of
farm operators are 70 years or
older and only 8 percent are age
35 or under. Increasingly, pro
grams such as Farm Link are
needed to help the younger gen
eration become involved in
farming.
First, though, family and sib
ling issues need to be discussed.
Family members need to talk
openly about potential transfers
before financial or legal consult
ants are brought into the pic
ture.
Transferring the farm in
volves three universal decisions:
one, working out a method to
provide adequate retirement
POLARIS*
% K
April 30,2000
*
The Way Out.
There are no “cookbook” recipes for passing on the farm, according to Marion L.
Bowlan, executive director of Pennsylvania Farm Link, second from left. Speakers at the
farm estate transfer workshop included, from left, Kevin Baer, coordinator fo the Ches
ter County Agriculture Land Preservation Program; Bowlan; Samuel Goodley, of Byler,
Goodman, and Goodley; and Suzanne Lamborn, landowner.
income; two, treating all chil- “These are all very difficult sion will determine the success
dren equitably in the decision; issues,” said Bowlan. “There are of the farm transfer ”
and third, managing the succes- no easy answers. A lot of discus
sion so the next generation
won’t be saddled with unreason
able debts.
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