High Costs Complicate Farm Succession for Younger U.S. Farmers

The cost of land, machinery and daily operations is making family farm handoffs harder for younger U.S. farmers just as many longtime owners approach retirement.

In Minnesota, Andy Maier is a few years from taking over his family’s sugar beet, corn and soybean farm. The transfer requires him to buy out his father and uncle, and the farm must do well for that to happen.

Extra money from good years stays in the business for reinvestment, leaving Maier with little in personal savings. He remembers crop prices falling in 2018, when some farmers in his neighborhood left the business. Maier sees keeping the farm going as work that spans generations and wants to continue it.

His father, Rick Maier, is preparing to pass on ownership and plans to help Andy make the farm his own. Rick worries about the family operation’s future and hopes its legacy continues.

Mike Langseth took over his family’s North Dakota farm three years ago after gradually assuming expenses his father had covered. Each time Langseth took on a larger share, he needed more money to operate at that scale. Buying machinery brought another financial stretch.

Shifting trade policies, tariffs and supply chain disruptions have pushed up the cost of fuel, machinery, fertilizer and other operating expenses. Land and machinery account for much of the capital needed to farm, while economies of scale affect an operation’s ability to succeed.

Maier’s handoff remains a few years away, and its timing depends on the farm doing well enough to support the buyout.