Beyond Keep or Sell: Helping Families Plan the Future of Inherited Farmland
In a new NAEPC Journal article, Johnny Klemme explores how families and their advisors can connect financial needs, personal values and legacy
LAFAYETTE, Indiana — For a family inheriting farmland, the question of whether to keep or sell can carry more than financial consequences. The land may provide income, support a farming operation and connect generations through shared history. Family members can care deeply about that legacy while also having different needs and ideas about what should happen next.
Those questions are at the heart of “When Farmland Is the Fortune: A Framework for Advisors,” a new article by Johnny Klemme, CAI, published in the October issue of the NAEPC Journal of Estate & Tax Planning, a publication of the National Association of Estate Planners & Councils.
Klemme, a farmland advisor, broker and auctioneer with Geswein Farm & Land, offers a values-first approach that estate planning professionals can use to help families understand their priorities before choosing an ownership or transition strategy.
“Farmland can be a family’s largest asset, its operating business and its legacy all at once,” says Klemme. “That combination makes succession planning unusually difficult.”
For families, the conversation can begin with practical questions: What does each generation need the land to provide? Who wants to own it, and who is prepared to take responsibility for it? What does fairness mean when family members have different roles, financial needs and connections to the farm?
The article introduces Klemme’s LAND VALUES framework to help organize those conversations. It also applies a Return on Life perspective to farmland decisions, encouraging families to consider well-being, meaningful goals and freedom of choice alongside financial outcomes.
Rather than treating continued ownership or a sale as the predetermined answer, the approach helps families and their advisors consider alternatives such as leasing, professional management, restructuring ownership, conservation or selling all or part of the property. Each possibility brings questions about income, responsibilities, timing and the family’s goals.
“Estate planning around farmland requires more than dividing an asset,” notes Klemme. “Families need to understand what they’re trying to preserve along with what they may be willing to change to create a successful transition.”
Professional advisors play a central role in connecting those priorities with a workable plan. Attorneys, CPAs, trust professionals, financial advisors and wealth managers bring their respective expertise while a farmland specialist contributes insight into the property’s value, management and transition options.
The article’s focus isn’t on a single definition of a successful legacy. It’s on helping families understand their choices and work with their advisors toward a decision that reflects both financial realities and what matters to the people involved.
Read “When Farmland Is the Fortune: A Framework for Advisors” at NAEPCJournal.org. Additional educational resources are available at americanfamilyfarmland.com/farmland-support-for-professional-advisors.
About Johnny Klemme
Johnny Klemme, CAI, is a farmland advisor, broker, auctioneer and speaker, and a principal at Geswein Farm & Land. He is the author of American Family Farmland, which explores the financial, personal and family considerations surrounding farmland ownership and inheritance. He works with landowners, farmers, investors and their professional advisors on farmland sale, management and transition decisions.
About Geswein Farm & Land
Geswein Farm & Land is a farmland real estate, auction, appraisal and farm management company serving landowners, farm families, investors and professional advisors throughout Indiana, Illinois and Michigan. Since 1977, the company has focused on helping clients create more land value through professional guidance, trusted relationships and responsible stewardship.
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