I had the privilege of hearing Billy Cordasco talk about the legacy of the Babbitt Ranch in Arizona. He spoke of generations that have poured into the ranch and now, as a large family, they utilize a board of directors. But it didn’t start out that way.

We could extensively discuss the misuse of the phrase “estate planning” to describe what should be called “transition planning” for ag operations. Instead, I’ll simply summarize by saying an estate plan is more than just a last will and testament, and should plan for the remainder of your life as well as your intentions after your death.

Just as cab tech provides valuable information to help save time, increase profits and reduce operator error in the field, business tech can enhance your management capabilities back at the farm.

The life lessons of work ethic, respect for the animals, and care for employees Jared Duppengeisser learned growing up on a dairy in western N.Y. have translated into his focus on creating a positive farm culture as a manager.

If the story you tell yourself suggests it’s nobody’s business how you spend your money, ask yourself how you got there and why it has to be like that. I hope you would agree with me that the emotional factors around money affect the farm transition process.

When I first came across the Corporate Transparency Act of 2021, I thought, “Oh, this is probably a Wall Street thing.” But turns out, it's actually an “almost everyone except Wall Street thing.”

The S corporation election has a lot going for it, but to protect the election and reap the most benefit from the S election, we can’t treat it like an open range and wander all over the landscape.