SOUTH DAKOTA (KELO) — Much of our nation’s story is rooted in amber waves of grain and rolling livestock pastures. The people who care for that land often come from generations of farm and ranch families. However, over the next two decades, an estimated 24 trillion dollars in farmland and agricultural assets will change hands, according to the National Land Realty.
That’s why the South Dakota Ag Foundation wants to help current farm families transition land into the hands of the next generations.
One farm 11 miles west of Ethan, South Dakota, has been in the Klumb family for 115 years.
“We are currently in our fourth generation coming back,” Shannon Klumb said. “My great-grandpa started, my grandpa, then my dad, now me and my two brothers.”
Klumb says the hope is for the farm to soon transition into the hands of the next generation.
“I have one that just graduated from vo-tech and I have a nephew that’s going to be done a year from now. So, yes, they will take over, slowly take over, and I can maybe transition out before I’m pushing daisies,” Klumb said.
But when it comes to passing on a farm, it’s more than just teaching someone to drive a tractor or care for a calf. There’s a whole business side that often gets procrastinated or overlooked.
“Where we live, on a day-to-day schedule, farming comes first, family comes second and the family business meeting is always going to happen tomorrow,” Klumb said. “And we never got to tomorrow.”
That’s why Klumb sought some help from Alan Hojer and the Keep Farmers Farming program.
“We’re helping agriculture with the transfer of wealth to the next generation,” Hojer said.
Hojer says it works like a consultant role for farmers.
“I think we really play the middle ground between, I call it the professionals – the attorneys, the accountants – they have their roles but it’s really to help people understand who they are within their operation, within their family and talk about those tough questions and come up with solutions which lead us to the strategies of which we pull in the professionals,” Hojer said.
Klumb says through this program they now have scheduled meetings for the whole family.
“Everybody now knows, has a chance to sit at the table, know what’s going on in different areas, bring problems to the table, ideas to the table,” Klumb said. “So it gives us a chance to actually talk business at a table instead of out in a tractor or in a pickup or tomorrow, which we never, ever got to.”
And bringing everyone to the table is important because Hojer believes we are losing a generation of farmers and ranchers.
“It’s not that they want to leave agriculture but because they don’t have the information of what the future looks like they finally just move on,” Hojer said. “It’s that simple. It’s not that the parents and the grandparents don’t want to provide that information, they just don’t know how or what to do. So as we work on that vision, that vision becomes more transparent and all of sudden, individually, everybody’s finding a vision for the next generation and moving forward. And what it does, it gives everybody peace.”
Peace that is near-sighted.
“It’s huge on the stress level of the operation. Because now nobody has to take all of the burden. Everybody’s involved, everybody feels like they’re involved in it, nobody is left out,” Klumb said.
And peace that is far-sighted.
“And you think about it, we’re looking at their children and the decisions we have to make then at this time, really prepares you for the next generation as well,” Hojer said. “It’s hooked together and people don’t realize what they have to do to prepare for two generations away.”
Klumb says the Keep Farmers Farming program is not only helping with the transition process, but also the day-to-day operations of the farm and it’s financials.
The program was started by First Dakota National Bank 10 years ago but merged into the South Dakota Ag Foundation in January of this year.
