Design Your Succession Plan

Tuesday, September 1, 2020, 12:00 PM - 12:00 PM

“Empowering families to get started on their succession plan.”
Online Zoom Series Coming to NYS!

How will your family farm operate in the future when the owner retires or is gone? Are you currently working with another generation who may be questioning their role in the future of the farm, or are you yourself questioning your current role?

More than 80 percent of farm families hope to pass the family farm on to the next generation, but research shows only 30 percent of family farms survive to the second generation, and only 12 percent survive to the third generation. A successful transition to the next generation takes careful planning.

New York State farm families now can participate in Design Your Succession Plan, a newly designed program that provides the tools and resources to begin the farm succession planning process. This program is a working collaboration among Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Workforce Development Institute, and NY FarmNet.

Participants will have an opportunity to open lines of communication with family to create a shared vision for the family business. They also will learn to choose and work with professional attorneys, accountants, lenders, insurance agents, and tax experts to construct a plan and documents that put the family's vision into action.

"The program will prepare you to envision, communicate, plan, write, and shape the legacy of your family farm or ranch business, as well as save hundreds of dollars by completing these crucial planning steps before visiting with professionals," said Bonnie Collins, Farm Business Management Educator, CCE Oneida County.

This program is being offered via Zoom. The cost is $60 per farm family and includes a workbook valued at $20. Pre-registration is required. The registration deadline is Thursday, September 30 to ensure on-time delivery of the program workbook. In NYS, the program will be offered as a four-evening remote course via Zoom in conjunction with an online learning platform used between meetings. The program will run from 6:30-8 p.m., October 8, 15, 22. and 29. For more information, contact your local CCE educator, information below, visit http://cceoneida.com/ or https://reg.cce.cornell.edu/dsp_230 to register online.

Laura Biasillo (lw257@cornell.edu); Bonnie Collins (bsc33@cornell.edu); David Cox (dgc23@cornell.edu); Janice Degni (jgd3@cornell.edu); Liz Higgins (emh56@cornell.edu); Ariel Kirk (adk39@cornell.edu); Dayton Maxwell, Jr (dtm4@cornell.edu); Nicole Tommell (nt375@cornell.edu); Katelyn Walley-Stoll (kaw249@cornell.edu); Mary Kate Wheeler (mkw87@cornell.edu)