The Agriculture Legacy Forum: Thriving in the Face of Succession Planning

Who should attend?

Progressive agribusiness operations seeking to thrive in the face of generational transfers, preserving maximum wealth and family relationships. To realize the best return on the investment you will be making in this program, we strongly encourage both current and next generation leaders to attend. You do not need to be an existing Farm Credit East customer to participate.

Here’s what you’ll gain:

• An initial succession and estate plan strategy session for both the individuals and the operation
• Actionable insights, driven through personality assessments into the human dynamics that influence day-to-day interactions
• Cutting edge strategies to preserve your wealth
• Personalized insights and action plan recommendations from a group of experts across a wide range of disciplines

Pre-program work

To ensure you gain the most value from this forum, we’ll request the following items in advance. A Farm Credit East consultant will facilitate this collection post registration.

• Completion of a personality assessment and a competing values framework assessment by all attendees.
• Collection of key information, such as tax return and financial information, entity documentation, including trusts and buy-sell agreements, as well as wills and prior estate planning work completed. 

Forum Cost: Existing Farm Credit East Customer-Members, $2,000 | Non-Members, $4,500 

The forum cost includes all program materials, speaker fees, breakfast and lunch, as well as a group dinner on the evening of January 6, for two attendees per operation. Contact us if you'd like to bring additional participants from your operation. The cost does not include personal travel/hotel expenses for neither members nor non-members, however we have contracted discounted overnight rates for all attendees.

Performance Dynamic with Giombetti Associates

Since 1986, Giombetti Associates has been the leader in identifying and developing high-performance individuals who make high-performance companies successful. They do this using a trademarked process they developed called Performance Dynamics®. This psychometric assessment consists of three personality inventories designed to identify 17 different traits that drive personality and behavior.

By leveraging this tool, Giombetti provides accurate, timely and insightful information about the personalities of individuals involved in the family farm business. This highly objective process identifies concretely in percentile ranking where we fall along a spectrum of personality traits that influence our behavior. GiomBetti’s philosophy is that helping people understand the “why” behind their actions results in profound personal and professional development.

Common Pitfalls of Succession Planning – Farm Credit East Consultants

Planning for the future of your farm or business isn’t just about numbers, it’s about people, relationships and decisions that can shape generations. In this session, we’ll walk through real-world anonymous examples that highlight where succession plans often go off track. From breakdowns in communication to disagreements over money and fairness, we’ll explore the common challenges families face when trying to transfer both assets and responsibility.

We’ll also dig into the tougher conversations, like how family dynamics, differing expectations and the reality that “related doesn’t always mean the right fit” can create friction. You’ll gain insight into the psychology behind key decisions, including how net worth is leveraged, how roles are assigned, and why even well-intended plans can struggle without alignment. The goal is to help you recognize these pitfalls early and approach your own planning process with greater clarity, confidence and a better chance of long-term success — for both your farm and your family.

Nuts and Bolts of Business Transition – Dr. Kohl

Before one ponders about estate planning, asset transfer or business entity structure, the journey of planning for transition of business management must be established. With trillions of dollars of assets ready to be passed to the next generation by businesses and households by the year 2035, both estate and management transition planning must be high priorities. Transition planning is one of the top three issues facing agricultural businesses and it is often the Achilles’ Heel of successful businesses. In this session, Dr. Kohl will discuss the process of transition planning including: 

• The “starting five” questions to jumpstart transition planning.
• Pitfalls and issues to manage around.
• The financial liquidity crisis which leads to impromptu transition planning.
• Sweet sixteen strategies, actions and tactics that are critical for success. 
• Selecting a transition planning team.
• A scorecard to follow in the transition planning journey.

Incentivizing the Next Generation & Managing the Human Realities of Transition – Farm Credit East Consultants

Transferring ownership is one thing, but transferring management and leadership is often much harder. In this session, we’ll explore how to effectively motivate and retain key people, both family and non-family members, as you plan for transition. We’ll walk through practical tools such as deferred compensation plans, housing arrangements and equity-like incentives that can help align long-term commitment with the future success of the business. Just as important, we’ll discuss how these structures work in practice: what’s realistic, what’s compliant and how they’re typically implemented.

At the same time, we’ll address the often overlooked “soft side” of transition: managing family expectations, handling difficult decisions like when a family member isn’t the right fit, and maintaining trust with non-family employees who may feel uncertain about their place in the future. These situations are rarely straightforward, and they require both clear structure and thoughtful leadership. This session is designed to help you navigate those complexities by providing both the technical framework and the practical insight needed to move forward with confidence, clarity and equitability.

Governance Structure in Farm and Family Business Transitions – Farm Credit East Consultants

A successful transition requires more than a good financial plan. It requires a clear governance structure that defines how decisions are made, who has authority and how accountability is maintained over time. In this session, we’ll break down the key elements of governance in a family farm or business, including who signs on debt, how major financial decisions are approved, and how roles shift as ownership and management transition. Through practical examples, we’ll explore how unclear governance can lead to confusion and conflict, and how well-defined structures can create stability and confidence for all involved.

We’ll also address one of the most sensitive aspects of governance: balancing the needs and expectations of non-farming children alongside those actively involved in the operation. This includes how to think about trustee selection, the role of trusts in ownership and control, and how to ensure that beneficiaries who are not part of the day-to-day business still feel informed, respected and treated fairly. The session will focus on helping families establish a framework that supports sound decision-making.

Legacy Liquidity – Farm Credit East Consultants

Ensuring there is liquidity at the time of transition is one of the most critical, and often overlooked, elements of a successful succession plan. Even the best capitalized farms can run into an expansion that is ill timed with a partner buyout, death or divorce, causing belt tightening. In this session, we’ll explore how tools like irrevocable life insurance trusts, buy sell agreements and other planning strategies can create flexibility, reduce pressure on the operating business and help families make better decisions when it matters most.

We’ll also address the real-world challenges these strategies are designed to solve, including how to equitably provide for off-farm heirs while preserving the integrity of the farm or business, how to think about taking care of key non-family contributors, and how to avoid situations where the next generation is forced into difficult financial decisions. A key focus will be the tradeoff between planning ahead with tools like insurance versus relying on borrowing or asset sales later. The goal is to give you a clearer framework for building optionality into your plan, reducing friction, and ensuring long-term stability for both the business and the family.

High Impact Succession Strategies – Dario Arezzo & Austin Weaver

This session will highlight advanced, high-impact strategies used by leading farm and business owners to manage estate taxes, optimize transfers and preserve family wealth

We’ll explore practical approaches such as leveraging entity structures, lifetime transfer strategies, valuation techniques, and coordinated gifting and liquidity planning. Just as importantly, we’ll connect these tools back to real-world situations so you can see how they work in practice, where they create opportunity, and where they require careful planning and alignment.

The goal is to give you a clear understanding of how thoughtful, proactive planning can significantly reduce tax drag, improve transition outcomes, and position your operation for long-term success, all while staying aligned with your family and business objectives.