Farm Management and Ag Policy

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.

We've recently had several programs discussing wildlife and game bird habitat creation and promotion on our program.

Extension habitat management specialist Andy Little, returns to talk about a research program at UNL that has been studying wildlife habitat, and says it's a critical part of conservation, as well as something farmers should consider to pursue another line of revenue on their operation.

[Andy Little, Nebraska Extension Habitat Management Specialist]
The research started back in 2021.

And so that project was designed to start targeting, basically, areas within the rainwater basin, so kind of like Grand Island East to Lincoln, the other study areas in northeast Nebraska and about like 8 or 9 counties up there.

And so in each of those sites, we went in and we generated a bunch of, we call them crow count points.

And so basically what that means is there are a bunch of generated points, randomized points in a landscape, and then we send out teams of our students, biologists, et cetera, um, to go out to those points and they're listening for about 3 minutes at each of those points throughout basically the, um, uh, breeding season for pheasants.

So kind of that, I would say basically like the 1st week April, um, uh, into basically early part of June, essentially is kind of the sampling time frame.

And so our team will go to each of those points 3 times and during that window of time, and they would basically listen for 3 minutes and record down, hey, how many birds, how many pheasants am I hearing crowing?

We use all that data on the back end to then start combining that with satellite imagery, of land cover out there in a landscape.

And then we combine all of this stuff together.

And basically a modeling platform, uh, which then allows us to be able to identify and prioritize these folkwareas.

So listeners may be aware of like the focus on pheasant areas, the Nebraska and Parks Commission is established across the state, and that's essentially is kind of further refining them and being able to start building out those, like I mentioned earlier, stepping stones, if you want to say, of saying, hey, you know, are there ways that we can work together with the neighboring landowners, to start building out connectivity to some of these other existing patches, because what happens, and I've had people say this, like, you know, um, you, I put in a practice and I'm not seeing necessarily the return on investment that I expected.

And then you zoom out from the property and you say, well, there's really no connection of other types of, say, grassland and Ford communities that are really scaled out around that.

And so you kind of get what I like to say is an island.

And that island is it's hard and you could have an island and still be productive, but if it's a pretty small island, you know, eventually the birds, you know, you're not going to have a lot of birds moving into and out of that area because they, you know, especially when the crops are off in the fall and winter, because they're a higher risk of predation. And other sorts of mortality as we're going out, say, through an open cornfield.

Obviously in the summer, they can totally move around and about, you know, those fields and stuff.

Um, but one of the things today is, you know, there's not a lot of incentive for a lot of birds to move out into the middle of a field because there's not usually a lot of diversity of insects that are out there or other types of uh, plant communities because usually it's the crop and then the soil.

And so they usually spend a lot of time around the peripheries of those fields.

Ultimately, a couple of the big things come out of that is we basically have identified that strategic targeting of habitat is really, really critical, especially in highly fragmented landscape so we see today.

And that's no different than when we kind of go back into the 60s.

And we say, well, pheasants, they don't they don't need a big, huge block of cover necessarily.

They need mixtures of different cover types on the landscape.

So they do need crop fields, kind of interspersed with those grassland patches.

But those grassland patches can't necessarily be just a thick, you know, uh, or thick dense cover to the point where it doesn't provide any of that brood ring cover that I alluded to earlier because that's where you, that's one of the limitations.

You got to think about kind of the what they need biologically throughout the season.

And so with all of that, it gives us opportunity to start saying, okay, how can we be more strategic with those investments and getting out and meeting with landowners and really engaging to build those kind of complexes, if you want to say out.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
For Nebraska extension almanac, I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media, and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.

Some farmers might be hesitant to seemingly take away valuable crop land to uses wildlife habitat.

Nebraska Extension Habitat management specialist Andy Little says, there are good financial reasons to protect and promote wildlife habitat.

On today's almanac.

Andy talks about why protecting game birds and other wildlife could be profitable.

[Andy Little, Nebraska Extension Habitat Management Specialist]
So in general, what you hear a lot is, well, if I put in, especially, and I'll use Eastern Nebraska's good illustration.

We have fairly high soul rental rates in this part of the state compared to Western Nebraska.

So if you look in general, across the state, you tend to see more CRP conservation reserve program, uh, lands enrolled out in western Nebraska, southwest and western panhandle, because it's, you know, basically the, there's an opportunity there, this whole rental rates are substantially less than a lot of cases.

And so then it makes sense financially to put those practices in.

Here in eastern Nebraska.

It's a little harder and it's harder for folks to justify with current prices, commodity prices.

And so, um, to answer original question, yes, there's an opportunity there.

And that's really what we're looking at is, is you can build in not only having your main, you know, kind of breadwinner, you know, say corn soy beans, but you can take and strategically target marginal acres where you're consistently losing money by using things like yield monitor data.

So everybody, you know, who's driving a combine in the fall, they get the, you'll monitor data right in the combine.

And so they're seeing those areas that are consistently low yielding.

We can take those areas out of production, put them into alternative practices, and it doesn't have to be necessarily like CRP, because there's only so much money in that bucket, and that's something we're working on right now is actually some, you know, kind of additional stackable enterprises.

Could be grazing acres, it could be hunting lease, could be a, you know, hey, you want to put an apiary out there?

You want to get some bees.

Um, you, really the, the, the sky's a limit on your creativity, but the ultimate goal that we're trying to get at is how do we help people diversify, especially when you're in current situations like with the stuff going on and over in the Middle East, where nitrogen prices now have been really skyrocketed.

Um, and then you have other costs for the farm really skyrocketing.

And so how can we strategically work on diversifying your financial portfolio so that when you do have bad times come in, which inherently it's going to happen at some point or another, whether it's weather, you know, whatever, and there's going to always be challenges like that.

You do have some other streams of income that can help and diversify in your operation, help pay those bills.

So.

One good way for farmers to profit off these techniques is a hunting lease.

Andy says, using problematic areas on the farm, could be a good opportunity to make money from a hunting lease.

So there's there's a couple of different ways that people have done hunting leases.

So one is, um, right now they, the Rescue Parts Commission has the open fields and waters program, and so they basically that program was specifically designed to help open up access, um, across the state, for people who are wanting to be able to hunt, to recreate, hunt, fish, et cetera.

Um, and so people can obviously go learn more about that at their website and there's, they can contact with their local areas.

But the point is, is that yeah, that, um, there, that's an opportunity.

The other opportunity is, um, just simply, hey, I'm, you know, have, if outside of the open fields of water, I just want to take and have a component of my property that I'm not really making much money on, and I can take and put that into conservation program or something else, habitat wise, and I got people want to deer hunt or pheasant hunt or whatever, and then people will pay for it.

You know, we're talking 1000s upon 1000s of dollars, people paid either have a hunting lease, a hunting operation, that they want to be able to come and hunt their recreationally every year.

I see it all the time.

They're actually kind of like the, there's different platforms now.

Some of them are more like the Airbnb experience, if you want to say.

Um, and you kind of say, hey, I want to come hunt these couple of days.

And then, yeah, you're basically paying a landowner for access to hunt their property.

And so, yeah, there's definitely a market.

There's absolutely a big market.

There are lots of money in hunting industry.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Stay tuned for future programs where Andy talks about deeznuts program at the university that is studying this issue and using it to help game birds thrive again in this state.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Mike Straub, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.

With farming and ranching, comes busy schedules.

Disasters we may face every day are not always front of mind.

Statewide disaster education coordinator for Nebraska Extension, Sawny Cochran, talks about the importance of being prepared for the many disasters producers in Nebraska face, affecting their land, livestocks, and families.

[Soni Cochran, Nebraska Extension Disaster Education Coordinator]
We're talking about being prepared, so planning, preparing and then steps you could take to protect your family, your livestock, and your community.

So we're doing all hazards.

And, yeah, there's been a lot of fires, but it's almost been statewide as well.

So we had some fires early on in Eastern Nebraska, and we're getting into harvest season.

We're gonna want to think about fires and preparedness with our equipment as we get into the fields, as well.

You have equipment that might get hot as you're going down the rows, and sometimes we have leaves, and stalks get up into those combines, and other pieces of equipment.

You know, it could be that you're in an ATV or UTV, and you accidentally happened to drive across really dry grass.

And just because we've had some rain doesn't mean we're still at risk for fires.

So one thing people can do, as well, is when you are, you know, you have a trailer, you have a truck.

Make sure those chains are up, so they're not gonna spark along the concrete or asphalt, and accidentally catch fire as you go along roadways.

Having communications equipment with you, Having a plan, or a map of your farm, or ranch, or acreage.

So first responders know where to go, and that map is located in a place when they enter the property, that they know where the gates are.

They know where the wrists are.

They know where the chemicals are, the fuel is.

You know that bull.

Where is that bull that might be on your property?

So we have a lot of resources we can help people with and talk through.

And, you know, if you're living in a small town, maybe you have a farmer ranch and, you know, your parents are out there.

You're out there, but your parents are in town.

You know, talk about those things as well.

Do you have a quick go bag you can grab?

That's what we're talking about here?

Do you have an emergency kit if there's a flood or tornado, and you've got to be in place for a few days because first responders can't get to you?

Do you have a weather radio?

Do you have, you know, your phones charged?

Do you have that list of, who you can call, and write that down, that number, all our cell phones, have that in our phones as, My son is like, Ben.

Well, that doesn't help me know what his phone number is if my cell phone isn't working.

So it's really important to have all those pieces, no matter where you live.

So I think one of the things that's really helpful is learn about your community, okay?

And check on your neighbors, take care of your neighbors.

I mean, even if it's really hot.

Not today, hot, cold, whatever it might be, you can also, you know, take classes.

So find out where there's a CPR class that you can take, so you can protect your family compute.

You can volunteer.

There's different organizations whether it's, you know, community emergency response teams.

If you get involved with scouting, if you get involved with your American Legion or VFW, whatever it might be, to try and make sure the entire community has those resources, again.

Those first responsors, responders, your emergency manager, your volunteer fire department, they're gonna be busy responding to that, and at the same time, you can take steps to protect your family, check in on neighbors, and think about the emergency plans.

What are the emergency plan for your local school?

Your local faith based group.

Is it your church?

What is their emergency plan?

Where are the shelters in your community?

Figure out all those things ahead of time, and then get engaged with those your emergency managers say, What else can I do to help?

Your county officials, your mayor, you know, they may already have some meetings that the community can join in to all come together to learn how they can better protect their community.

[Mike Straub, Program Host]
For Nebraska Extension Almanac.

I'm Mike Straub.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media, and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.

Pheasant hunting in Nebraska is a time honored tradition.

On today's almanac, extension specialist Andy Little talks about how pheasants came to this country, and what farmers and acreage owners can do to promote a habitat where they can thrive?

[Andy Little, Nebraska Extension Habitat Management Specialist]
They were brought over from China back in the late 1800s, here to North America.

Um, a lot of, and basically the primary reason was uh, individuals wanted to be able to hunt pheasants over here.

And so they brought them over here and started introducing them into various states in particular across the United States and obviously Nebraska and the Midwest.

It was a designated location for releasing pheasants.

And so, uh, we released pheasants again, you know, kind of late 1800s.

And actually this year, interestingly enough, in Nebraska is the 100th year of pheasant hunting uh, in Nebraska.

And so again, it's uh, they've been around for quite a while.

Populations of pheasants in Nebraska, really peaked back in the, I'd say about the 50s, 60s time period, and a lot of that was due to crop diversity.

We had at that time, you know, in some places, 5 to 6 different types of crops being grown.

And so crop diversity was pretty important to them and really that kind of speaks to their need to have a lot of different types of cover in the landscape.

We can probably dive into that more in a moment.

Um, but at the end of the day, yeah, they, they were brought over here late 1800s, North America, and then continued to expand across the country as people were wanting to, you know, primarily from a recreational standpoint for hunting.

So.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Andy talks about what the ideal pheasant habitat is to help them nest, reproduce, and have protection from harsh weather and predators.

[Andy Little, Nebraska Extension Habitat Management Specialist]
So we'll kind of started like the nesting cover side of things in the spring.

So right now, birds are kind of the peak point of nesting for pheasants.

Um, so they they want to obviously have some level of concealment.

So we think of, um, a mixture of Forbes and Grasses.

Uh, and so people think uh, immediately of like CRP conservation reserve program fields, uh, that may have a little bit more of a, um, uh, diversity there of both, again, grasses and Forbes, just to have some level of structure.

So when she puts a nest in, Um, she can still be able to see potential predators.

You'll see pheasants, especially nowadays as we have, you know, again, peak back in the 50s and 60s.

Populations have continued to decline across the state of Nebraska and many states.

Um, what you actually see is birds will be nesting in, you know, roadside ditches because in cases like that.

Those roadside dishes are really all they have available to them.

Um, and then when you get to the brood running stage, once that nest hatches, the uh, chicks are going to need uh, more open kind of bare ground mixed with Forbes, they can find insects, but they can move around quickly.

And similar to turkey, uh, poults.

One of the things with pheasants is if, in that 1st, especially a couple weeks of life when they just hatch out, they can't really thermal regulate very well.

And so if it gets like a cool night and you got a lot of moisture and say you have, um, you know, like brome, you know, in your pasture, for example, it's really dense.

If they get in there, they can actually die from hypothermia because they get moisture on them and they can't thermal regulate.

And so you really want to have a diversity of kind of open areas.

And the way I always tell people to do this is if you want to know you have brooder in habitat, take a little kid's monster truck or a tennis ball and try to roll it through the area where you think is brood rearing cover.

If it stops immediately, that's not quality brooder and cover because they're not likely to get through there.

Now, if they, you can roll it through and there's some open areas, bare ground, then sure, they can definitely get to that.

And then you get later in the summer into the fall time period, you know, when most people are hunting them, they're thinking of kind of the taller 4 foot tall vegetation, the CRP fields.

That's what most people are obviously visualizing and thinking, hey, this is what quality pheasant cover is into a point, yes, but at the end of the day, you have to look it up from a life stage standpoint, because that really thick cover, maybe in that fall winter time frame is not really going to be the ideal cover for, say, brood rearing, because they need to have those mixtures of those different cover types really within a pretty uh, to each other in a landscape.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Stay tuned to future almanac programs where Andy discusses pheasant population decline in Nebraska.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac.

I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.

UNL Center for Ag Profitability has a resource that helps match aspiring producers with landowners who want to see their legacy continue.

It's called the Nebraska Landlink, and on today's program, Extension Educator Emeritus, Alan Benalik, talks about how owners should prioritize their goals, and their legal documents before any transition plans are put into place.

[Alan Vyhnalek, Nebraska Extension Educator Emeritus]
I want people to start thinking about what happens to their stuff when you pass, when you're gone.

Do you have plans or your plans in place?

Do you and your spouse, if you have one or have another partner, business partner, you have to get that set 1st before you could even consider thinking about getting into the whole landing program or interviewing someone for the landing program.

Next, what is your estate plan?

Do you have your end of life documents in place?

How old are they?

If they're more than 5 years old, you probably need to review them and maybe make some adjustments, make some amendments.

Do they need to be updated?

And when I talk about estate plans.

I'm talking about end of life documents, things like your healthcare power of attorney, your healthcare directive, and your business power of attorney or the or the durable power of attorney.

And then I'm also talking about your will or trust or LLC.

Are those in good shape?

But now we're going to talk about what happens to your ag operation?

Do you plan to have that I operation succeed and do you have the documents in place for that to happen properly?

If you're bringing a land seeker into your operation to help or work to work or hopefully take over, have all that kind of in place 1st before you think about this.

It's important that you think about what income you're going to need from your operation later in life.

If you're unable to contribute to the operation and you're no longer providing labor, maybe management, but no labor.

What income are you going to need to live off of?

Where do you plan to go?

Do you have aspirations to do trips?

Do you have aspirations to take vacations?

And how does that be adjusted given where we're at with these land seekers and what are we going to expect those land seekers to pay?

We can't put them under the bus in terms of them being able to pay or they're not going to want to stay with our operation very long.

Where do you expect that income to come from?

I don't know, there are a lot of people could just live off their social security, some people can.

But a lot of people don't necessarily.

And if you're no longer able to do the work, if you're no longer a part of your operation, where do you plan to live?

Do you still plan to live out on the farm?

Are you going to have home in-home healthcare?

How's that going to work if you become incapacitated?

What do you plan to do?

Let's have a plan for that.

Let's think about what those options might.

And how about to control the operation?

Uh, you know, the famous story is that a 65 year old said uh, to one of the farm succession people, uh, when is it appropriate to give control of your operation to your son?

And that farm succession counselor knew that this 65 year old had a 3540 year old on the farm.

And you said, well, you know, if your son's 35, 40 years old, been with you 10 or 15 years, start time to start giving up control.

And a 65 year old goes, no, I'm not talking about.

My son, I'm talking about my 90 year old father.

When's he going to give up control?

Because right now, my son and I get into the truck and we drive over to his place every morning to get directed.

So what we ought to do every day?

So there's that story and lies what's happening with a lot of the of our landowners and a lot of our old-time farmers, they never really want to retire and they always want to maintain control.

I'm not being critical of that, but you have to think about how you're going to handle that control.

And where would you plan to give that up?

And how are you going to give that up?

And if you plan to give it up, Yes, yes, good, fine.

But who are you going to give it up to?

Are you giving it up just to your children?

Are you giving up to this new land seeker?

How do you want your operation to go forward?

So think about those big picture goals.

What do I need from my operation for income?

What do I need for my operation, for where I'm going to live?

How do I get to transfer control?

How am I going to transfer my assets?

Who are my assets going to go to before you start this interview process with the land seeker, thinking about what you need to make sure you have in place?

And of course, be sure you communicate this with your children, if you have children involved, and absolutely be sure you are in agreement with your spouse.

Today's program was a portion of an interview taken from the Farmcast podcast offered by UNL Center for Ag Profitability to hear the entire program.

Go to cap.unl.edu or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac.

I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac.

Planning your succession and transition is an extremely important part of your family's farms operation future success.

We've been discussing these issues for some time on past programs, and today, extension ag economist Jessica Grosskoff talks about whether a family trust is right for you and other issues like family heirlooms.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]

The most common way to bypass the probate process is by using a trust.

Okay?

Not everyone needs a trust.

Again, this is the you may want or need.

A trust it is not required.

A trust does not replace your will.

It complements your will.

Well, what is a trust?

A trust is a bucket.

Basically, it's like a container that holds your assets and helps with that process of transferring them.

The cool part about a trust or this trust bucket is that you get to write the rules of how the assets are used, who benefits from those assets and how the assets are removed from the bucket.

Now I want to be very clear here.

Not everyone needs a trust.

It does avoid the probate process.

The only thing that I see or one of the things that I see with trust is that if we create a trust, we have to put things in the bucket.

Okay?

So there is a physical process of what they call funding the trust that must be done.

So, my assets, if it was my trust, would no longer be titled to Jessica Grosskoff.

They would be titled to the Jessica Grosskoff living trust.

The important part about this is in the state of Nebraska, there's a limit to how many assets you can own prior to the probate process, which I believe is currently $100,000.

So if I have more than $100,000 sitting outside my trust, we're going to trigger a probate.

So that's why we have to make sure that everything goes into the trust bucket.

Again, this is not a replacement for a will.

It is a compliment to the will.

And basically what will happen is your will will say everything goes into the trust.

We call this a pour over or residuary clause in the trust.

Your will is very simple.

Moving forward are funeral instructions.

These typically are not legally binding documents.

Funeral instructions are just usually the 1st thing that your family is going to look for.

And if you have strong feelings about what you want.

As far as a funeral is concerned, you can place those in funeral instructions.

And the final piece is the bequests of personal property.

I will tell you that more fights happen over things like heirlooms, that causes more fights in families than anything else.

Quickly, an attorney is not going to allow you to put those personal property items in the will.

They're going to ask you to create a list called a bequest of personal property list.

Please do this and do it the right way.

In Nebraska.

It can be typed or it can be handwritten.

However, it must be signed and dated.

So basically, it's a description of the item and who it goes to.

It does not require an attorney signature or anything.

You just have to keep this list and they usually will give you like a form to write this out on.

Do not.

Play the put the sticky note on the back of something game.

Do not do that.

Why?

It's not legally binding, and magically, there are 2 sticky notes.

There's one on the back and one on the bottom.

Magically there's 2 different handwritings.

Magically, the sticky note just fell off.

Again, if we're talking about reducing the tension within our family, let's do things the legally correct way.

And in the state of Nebraska, that's a bequest of personal property list.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

There are detailed articles and other podcasts on this topic of succession and transition on UNL Center for ag profitabilities website at cap.unl.edu, or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac.

I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac.

Throughout the past few weeks, we've been focusing on succession, transition, and estate plans for farm families.

It's difficult, but necessary planning is critical to the future success of the operation, and keeping the farm in the family.

Extension ag economist Jessica Grosskoff, talked about the difference between succession plans and estate plans on part one.

She begins today's program by talking about the end of life or incapacity issues, and the legal documents you'll need to carry out your wishes.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]

The 2nd 3rd and 4th document that are on this list have to deal basically with your end of life or your incapacity.

So I often think about these in the event of disability or incapacity, the most obvious one being something like Alzheimer's.

Okay?

So the 1st is a power of attorney and depending on how you set this up, it could be a durable power of attorney or general power of attorney.

And basically this person is an agent who will take care of the business aspects that you assign to them through the power of attorney document.

Again, I like to think about this in the in the event of disability or incapacity, but you can define when it is in force and what actions this person can take through the power of attorney document. 3 and 4, maybe separate documents, but they may be combined.

I've seen it both ways.

It just depends on what your attorney who's preparing the documents prefers.

So the next item is a power of attorney for healthcare.

This is someone who can make healthcare decisions on your behalf.

And then the final document is a living will or a healthcare directive that basically states what kind of care you want.

Okay?

So again, 3 and 4 can be combined.

The thing that's important here is that the 1st document, a will is only enforced after your death.

Items 2, 3, and 4 are only enforced while you are alive, and they expire at death.

So let's think about who we are putting in each of these positions.

The 1st thing is that I do not like to see co, personal representatives or co powers of attorney.

The problem with naming 2 people to that position is that basically you are forcing them to make decisions together, and that often causes tension within families.

So what I like to say is you want to pick the best person for the role.

So think about who the right person is for that role and name one person to each role.

The other thing I will say is it often, More smooth if we can make the power of attorney and the personal representative the same person.

If I am the power of attorney and I'm dealing with your business decisions prior to your death, then I pretty much have the information or have a lot of information that I will need to be your personal representative after death.

Okay?

So again, I also like to think about the ease of that transition between dealing with your business affairs prior to death and then after death.

I typically like those to be the same.

They can be different.

It's not required, but having seen families go through this process, I think it's more smooth when that happens.

The other piece about this is you might be sitting here thinking, Well, Jessica, I already have these things in place, but I'm just not really sure.

Any of these documents can be updated or replaced at any time, given that you are competent.

So while you are alive, you can update these documents.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Stay tuned for future programs on this important topic of the critical legal documents for farm families.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac.

I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

Jessica4LegalDocs126 Transcript:

[Brad Mills Program Host]
Nebraska Extension Almanac.

We've been going through a lot of detailed discussion surrounding succession plans for family farm operations recently.

On today's program, extension ag economist Jessica Groskoff talks about the difference between succession plans and estate plans, and why that is so critical to the operation's future success.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]
The last type of planning that we talk about, when we talk about complete succession planning, is estate planning.

Well, Jessica, isn't that the same thing?

No, no, it is not.

Estate planning is a huge component of this, but I will promise you, an estate plan does not make a succession plan.

Having an estate plan in place basically tells the government what you want done at your death.

It basically allows assets to be passed. From one person to another person through a legal process.

It does not teach someone how to manage a farm or a range business.

And this is where farm and range families get stuck.

So you might have an estate plan in place, and you might be thinking, oh, well, we're good.

No, you're not.

We have to have all 4 components of the planning process in place in order to make sure that this farm or this ranch or business can survive the death of the oldest generation.

And it it includes 4 basic documents.

Every adult within a farm or a range business in the state of Nebraska, an adult is 19 years.

And up, okay?

So 4 basic documents, you need a will, a will, basically what a will does is says, I want these things to go to these people.

It also assigns a guardian for your minor children, and it assigns what we call in Nebraska a personal representative, and that person has the joy and pleasure of making sure that these assets go to these people.

Assets that pass through the will are subject to a process called probate.

Well, what is probate?

Probate is that physical process of retitling those assets to these people.

Probate gets a bad rap for a couple of reasons, number one, probate is public.

Number two, probate can be costly because some attorneys will charge a percentage of the estate that is probated.

So if you're going through the probate process, I actually encourage you to find an attorney who charges by the hour, not as a percentage of the assets.

And number three, probate can take quite a bit of time.

So if we're running a farm or a ranch business.

And we have said that these assets will go to these people and it takes 2 years for that to happen, that, um, is difficult for a farmer arranged business to keep operating during that time.

It just creates a lot more complexity.

Now, in Nebraska, whether you like it or not, whether your assets are probated or not, your estate will still be public because in Nebraska, we have Nebraska inheritance tax.

So avoiding probate because of the public manner of it.

Honestly isn't really an argument because if somebody wants to be nosy and they want to find out what you passed, at your death, they will be able to look that up because of the inheritance tax regardless of whether your assets were probated through a will.

If you die without a will, you will be subject to Nebraska intestate laws, which basically is the default rules of the state of Nebraska of how your assets will be passed.

Most people say, well, it'll just go to my spouse.

Not in the state of Nebraska.

No one, no one likes the government's plan for anything.

So if you write a will, that will supersede the state laws.

So again, we recommend that you have a will just to supersede the state loss.

[Brad Mills, Host of This Program and Soon To Be Retired]
Stay tuned for future programs, where Jessica continues to focus on legal issues surrounding a complete estate plan for your family farm.

For Nebraska extension almanac.

I'm Brad Mills, Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IE&R Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans.

Go to extension.unl.edu.
 

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac.

On our final look at the important topic of Sunset retirement planning for farm and ranch owners, Extension Agaconomist Jessica Grosskov talks about what you should be discussing with a financial planner.

On today's program, she dives into the topic of mapping out some key financial issues that you should be talking about with a professional as well as long-term healthcare.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]

What is your withdrawal strategy?

If you do have retirement accounts or a pension plan, um, or some sort of investments, there are different rules around those types of accounts, and each account is slightly different.

And so there is actually a physical strategy.

Physical strategy um, that you need to have to withdraw those funds.

So if you are approaching retirement age, and you have retirement accounts, you need to work with an advisor to develop the strategy for removing those funds from those accounts.

And again, it really depends on the types of accounts that you have.

And something I think that financial advisors need to do a better job of is explaining the strategy for removing funds from those accounts based on your goals and what you want to happen during your sunset years.

What are your plans for long-term care?

Long term care is one of the biggest concerns that farmers and ranchers have.

And there are 3 ways that we can pay for long-term care.

The 1st way is we can qualify for Medicaid.

Medicaid is different than Medicare.

Medicaid is the poverty program for low income people to receive, um, medical support, which will cover or can cover long-term care.

However, There's a 5 year look back period on Medicaid, and it limits the number of assets that you can have control of in order to be able to qualify for it.

So in other words, enabled in order to be able to qualify for Medicaid, we are basically going to push you below the poverty line.

In a strategic manner, so that you qualify for the program and we have to do that at least at least 5 years before you enter the long term care.

And I will tell you before you decide that that's the path that you want to take.

You need to go visit, the long-term care facilities in your community, and look at the Medicaid available rooms.

I promise you, there are very limited options in our rural communities, and you probably aren't going to like those options.

The other thing is that currently, because of the limited options, often, you will have to travel to find a Medicaid eligible facility in rural Nebraska.

So, that was option number one is qualifying for Medicaid.

Option number 2 is having insurance or a long-term care rider that would be available to you.

So you either have purchased long-term care insurance, which is most affordable between the ages of 55 and 65 or you might have a life insurance policy or an annuity that has a long-term care writer attached to it.

Now, long term care insurance probably isn't as good as it used to be.

They obviously are having more folks inter long-term care as we watch baby boomers age. Into long-term care, and so, the options for long-term care insurance aren't as good as maybe as they were 10 or 20 years ago.

You need to read the fine print of your long-term care insurance policy and your long-term care writer to know exactly what type of coverage that you have.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

A full series of podcasts on farm succession and transition are available at UNL Center for Ag Profitabilities website.

Just visit cap.unl.edu or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac.

I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac.

A lot of farm owners have built their operation over decades by putting all of their resources, including finances for retirement, back into the farm.

This makes the thought of actually retiring almost financially impossible.

On today's almanac, extension ag economist Jessica Groskoff covers the difficult topic of farm owner retirement and future owner success.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]

I do think this financial concern regarding retirement is something that really needs to be addressed as we talk about.

Okay, if I have someone coming back in the business and I need to step back.

What am I going to do in those sunset years?

And frankly, how am I going to afford to live?

We cannot make one generation destitute to bring in another.

And that goes both ways, right?

We can't make the the incoming generation.

Live a difficult life so that the older generation can have a comfortable life.

We have to make sure that they have a comfortable level of living support for both generations or all generations that come and live and work in the farming and ranching business.

And this is a huge challenge as we talk about this transition process is this business has to be able to support multiple family units.

And we have to do that in a way that everybody has a livable wage and a livable standard of living.

Now, does that mean that the farm or the range business has to provide the full standard of living?

Not necessarily, but we do have to know that everyone has the means to have a reasonable lifestyle.

Okay.

The other one that jumps out to me here is we get deeper into the list is that 55% of farmers and ranchers in the survey said that they do not have a successor coming back into the business. 55% do not have someone. Coming back into the business.

So, again, as we think about this process, it's difficult to retire from the business when you don't know who that successor is going to be, who's really going to be the next manager of this business.

I think this is extraordinarily important and part of why Nebraska extension has the Nebraska Landlink program.

The landlink program is a program specifically for farmers and rangers who do not have someone coming back into their business.

What the program does is it matches, um, existing farmers and rangers with new and beginning producers to help them get started.

So, how do we know?

How do we know if we're ready to kind of step back without stepping away?

How do we know that we're ready to slow down a little bit and let someone else come into our business?

And this requires actual planning.

And I like to see you do that planning with a certified financial planner, a CFP, um, or a financial advisor that has agricultural knowledge and an agricultural background.

I'm not going to go through all of the questions.

Um, but these are the kinds of questions that you need to discuss with them and and things you're going to need answers to before you walk into a meeting with a financial advisor.

I think these are the questions that don't get enough attention.

Um, by financial advisors, especially when what they're working with farm and reach families.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

A full series of podcasts on farm succession and transition are available at UNL Center for Ag Profitabilities website.

Just visit cap.unl.edu or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac.

I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac.

Planning your operations future can cause some significant headaches and problems, especially if you're not ready to retire.

On today's almanac, extension agonomist Jessica Groskoff talks about scaling back your involvement in everyday operations.

She begins today's program by encouraging farmers to reevaluate current business documents, and relates that to what needs to be done when retirement is looming.

[Jessica Groskopf, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]

So if you have an LLC agreement, if you have an entity or a partnership agreement, there's quite a bit of information in there that is going to impact what happens with your farm or your ranch business.

So you might be sitting here today and saying, I've done nothing.

But I happen to have an LLC agreement.

And so I'm going to go through the next 2 steps of planning, which will also, Lead into that because when we have signed legal documents, those legal documents do come into play, even if we haven't thought about them as puzzle pieces that fit together.

So the next segment of planning that we're going to focus on is what we like to call sunset planning.

This used to be titled retirement planning, but Anastasia and I are both fully aware that farmers and rangers rarely actually plan to retire.

So we call it sunset planning because there is that kind of end of your life where you either want to step back from that business or you are forced to step back from that business for medical reasons.

So, Sunset planning is really thinking about what happens when I maybe step back and let someone else step in to more of that that decision making role and maybe my hat shifts from owner operator more to just owner?

So let's let's take a look at sunset planning a little bit more.

So again, we're fully aware that only about 20% of farmers and rangers plan to completely retire from farming or ranching.

We did a survey in 2017 and asked why.

Why don't you want to step back?

And, You know, I think there's some things on here that aren't surprising. 75% said they didn't want to give up control.

We know that the passing of the torch between generations takes a while.

A lot of farmers and rangers who are of a traditional retirement age.

Maybe have only had actual decision making power over their business for a few years because their parents didn't pass on that power to them until just recently.

We know that equipment plays a role in that.

It's, um, Great to have modern equipment that allows folks to farm longer, right?

It's less strenuous on the body. 66% say that if they quit, they would die.

So they relate it to their own mortality, that's what that means.

But I really want to highlight, The one that says 62% cannot afford to retire.

62%.

Of farmers and ranchers say they cannot afford to retire.

Sometimes this is not a control issue.

Sometimes this is a financial issue.

Often, farm and range families have put everything.

And I mean everything back into the business.

So unlike their urban counterparts, right?

We don't have the retirement accounts and the investment accounts that complement the business.

A lot of that was put into the business.

What we see folks doing is liquidating equipment, and then renting out land in order to retire.

So sometimes I think this is slightly an illusion.

That comes from not having like a specific retirement account that exists, but I do think this financial concern regarding retirement is something that really needs to be addressed as we talk about.

Okay, if I have someone coming back in the business and I need to step back.

What am I going to do in those sunset ears?

And frankly, how am I going to afford to live?

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

There is much more to cover on this topic of sunset planning for farmers and ranchers?

Stay tuned to future programs where Jessica talks about retirement planning that makes sense for both the retiring owner and the profitability of the future owner of the farm.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills, Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media, and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac.

Transferring your farm operation onto the next generation can be quite tricky, and full of potential long term issues.

Nebraska extension ag economist, Anastasia Meyer says, coming up with a solid plan right now, is the best way forward, and will solidify your wishes, as your farm will be taken care of after you retire or pass away.

[Anastacia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]

Let's talk about succession planning, right?

What does this look like?

What is succession planning?

Well, succession planning is how do you transfer your business onto the next generation, right?

So we break this down into 3 different areas.

We have labor, we have management, and we have ownership.

The owners are typically willing to give up the labor the first.

It's the easiest thing to do, especially if, you know, they're feeling it in their bones and they can't physically do this stuff anymore.

So labor is often the easiest.

But we have to remember that no farmer ranch air or non-air that is coming back to the farm wants to just be a laborer their whole life.

That's usually when we're seeing disagreements among family that they want to start making those decisions.

And so how do I work them into the next tier, the management tier?

This key part, the middle part is the biggest key to success.

How are you training them to manage the farmer ranch before you transfer it?

Start inviting them to the bank meetings, to the insurance meetings.

Start training them on.

How do you make these decisions, right?

Start them all small when maybe we're talking about 10s of 1000s of dollars in decisions, whether it's buying bowls or seed selection.

Before you pass away and now they have ownership.

And they're making 100s of 1000s dollars decisions, right?

So this management is what we really need to focus on in a transition plan and how do we train the next generation to take over management?

It's overwhelming.

When landowners pass on, the heir is inherit and they've had no management experience.

This is often overwhelming and this kind of decides when some people aren't going to sell their ground because they can't manage it.

So, that, before we go into ownership, let's focus on the management aspect.

So like I said, invite them.

Invite those to them to those meetings.

Answer those questions of, well, why did you do this?

Why did we do this?

It's really simple to say, well, that's just because, like, that's just the way it is, right?

We don't want to always explain ourselves.

But if we're passing on a farmer ranch, we have to be able to say why we are making these decisions and how they affect the farmer ranch operation overall.

Again, we talked about death, disability, divorce, bankruptcy, but, you know, those could happen tomorrow, they could happen 10, 20 years from now.

So let's set, let's start these management processing and training now in case something does happen.

And then also tell them what structures or agreements do we have in place?

So if they're coming back, you need to have a position description for them.

But what is your operation agreements look like?

Are you in an LLC entity agreements?

What, where are your leases at?

What do your leases say?

Are there any buy sale trade agreements?

It is amazing when you work through it, through families, farms, or ranches when, you know, they thought that they owned the ground that was around them, but maybe they just owned the house and that the LLC or something else on the ground that the house sat on.

So those small nuances of farms in every farm has those nuances.

Make sure that you're training the next generation to take them over.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Today's program was a portion taken from a recent farmcast podcast offered by UNL Center for Ag Profitability.

To hear the entire program, as well as a five-part series on transition and succession, go to cap.unl.edu or download from Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IE&R Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac.

Before a farming operation can move on to the next generation, families have to answer some difficult but necessary questions.

On today's program, extension agaconomist Anastasia Meyer talks about farm families, business operations, transition plans, and how clear communication can help avoid any unnecessary problems in the future.

[Anastasia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]

First thing that we need to think about is the business planning, right?

We said that this was the 1st step.

And really, the biggest question that we need to ask ourselves for business planning is the hard question of is this viable.

Is this farmer ranch viable to succeed onto the next generation, if it is bleeding money right now and cannot cash flow?

Should you be looking at different avenues or if you're just getting by?

Can you bring in another family unit to support on the farmer ranch alone?

What does that look like for you?

This is a hard question to ask in a lot of times, we don't share our financials with the other generations.

And so we have to be willing to talk about this.

If somebody is returning to the farmer ranch, we have to be willing to talk about how are we paying them?

We should have some documentation, what does that look like?

How much are they getting paid?

What are those benefits that they might be getting?

And what exactly are they responsible for?

And then really, what's the future for the operation?

Is there room for expansion?

Are you in an area that is super ultra competitive and is not really room to grow?

Or is that available there?

Can they branch out into different niche markets?

And then also, what is the debt associated with the business?

When I talk to different people, especially heirs, they don't ever think about the debt and they don't know about the debt that a farmer ranch might have.

But remember, you are passing on assets and debt when you're going to have a transition plan.

So it's something that we need to think about when we're having this plan.

And then we need to be thinking about family business meetings.

You can't have a good family business without trust.

So you have to build your trust and you have to practice a good communication to maintain the trust or build the trust.

When you're having these family business meetings on.

What does this transition plan look like?

You really need to decide of who are you inviting to this meeting.

Really, it's a golden rules, right?

Whoever own is the owner of the farmer ranch gets to make the rules and invite who they want.

My rule of thumb is invite everybody.

Invite the on farm air.

Invite the off foreign heirs.

Invite the in-laws, the outlaws, invite the children or grandchildren.

If they have a stake in that farmer ranch, invite them.

A lot of times we're asked, do we invite the in-laws?

I think that the in-laws can offer a unique perspective, right?

Because if I'm thinking about this 80 here, I might have one recollection where my spouse might have another, right?

Is there emotional attachment tied there or are you thinking in a different mindset?

I think that if, if they are signing loan documents, they need to be at the table, though.

Who gets to speak during these meetings?

I think, you know, you need to set this meetings up with, Are you gathering ideas or just making decisions?

Who gets to speak?

Well, that's up to you as well, right?

But, Who also is making the decision?

Is that the owners are you going to let everybody have a vote?

I think this is probably going to come down to how is your ground currently owned?

Do you have LLCs?

Do you have trust?

What does that look like?

Are you allowing people to vote?

And is it majority or unanimous?

Do only siblings, heirs, get voting privileges, have these discussions before you start these family business meetings.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Today's program was part 2 of UNL Center for Ag Profitabilities podcast series on Farm Transitions.

You can hear this program in its entirety and the entire series by going to CAP.

UNL.edu for Nebraska Extension Almanac.

I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac.

Part of every farm's operation mission is to conserve their land for future generations and the continued success of their agricultural business.

Also part of that mission is wildlife conservation strategies.

Extension specialist Andy Little runs the applied wildlife ecology and spatial movement lab, or awesome lab, which focuses on helping landowners conserve wildlife habitat that can greatly benefit their agricultural operation.

He talks about why that is so integral to a farm success.

[Andy Little, Nebraska Extension Specialist]

Historically, you know, what we would see, you know, we kind of go back in like the 50s and 60s, when I talk to landowners around Nebraska, they remember, hey, I could go back in the back 40, my property and hunt quail, pheasants, a lot of other game, and now I'm not seeing those game species like I used to, or non-game.

So, uh, meadowlarks, other grass and birds, like dickcissel that are seen declines.

Um, and basically what landowners are saying is, hey, are there ways that we can kind of get back to some of those times where I had more wildlife in my land out in my farm, my operation.

And that's where prairie strips and many other conservation practices out there can help with that so that you can basically balance production and also have those areas where you can have wildlife species.

But also not only, you know, improving wildlife populations is also addressing soil, erosion issues, the water quality and quantity issues.

So if you have areas where your field, where maybe you're lower yielding, they can be targeted for some conservation practices to help benefit your whole operation.

One of the things that we're working in the awesome lab on is the idea of stackable enterprises.

So you kind of think of like your financial portfolio, you usually don't put all your money in one or 2 stocks.

You actually have diversified funding streams.

And so conservation can be one of those funding streams, but really, the sky's the limit on people's creativity.

So we're starting and looking at some additional stackable enterprises at the moment.

One of those is, you know, grazing.

Just a simple thing.

You can have a row crop system where you're managing, but you're bringing grazing that cattle component into your operation.

But also looking at it from maybe a managed access or basically open fields and waters program.

I know Game of Parks has right now in Nebraska, where you can basically get paid to put your land in to basically access for people to come and recreate there.

And so the point is, is being able to take and target areas of your operation where maybe you're just not making the most amount of money off of that operation that you hope.

And so can we actually take and strategically target that?

Basically, every acre has a role, whether that's production or conservation in the land, and so that helps you optimize your overall profitability beyond maybe what you've had seen in the past.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

The growing human population is obviously a great concern for the ag industry, helping feed people is obviously the number one concern of agriculture.

Andy talks about how his lab and research efforts are supporting that issue.

[Andy Little, Nebraska Extension Specialist]

I'm looking at it as, hey, instead of kind of just focusing on a smaller issue, let's take him, let's try to address this big challenge of how can we creatively address the lack of habitat, but doing it in a way that's sustainable for our farmers and ranchers.

Ultimately, that's going to come down to kind of two really key pathways.

One is addressing risks.

So obviously, if I'm losing money on my operation by putting a certain practice or whatever that really is, I can't be losing money.

And so, ultimately, if we, from the stackable enterprise side, find ways to optimize those revenues so you can actually make more money on your operation, now you're diversifying your financial portfolio, diversifying your operation.

And it doesn't have to be extreme.

It can be small areas where you can just target and test out.

And then, two, is being able to create those kind of pathways, and that's where our lab is also working in that arena, being able to have some simple stackable enterprises on your operation.

And then let's walk through a couple of case examples, so we can actually have the tools and the programs that help you be successful adopting them on your operation.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

For Nebraska Extension Almanac.

I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR Media and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Nebraska Extension Almanac.

UNL Center for Ag Profitability’s Farmcast podcast is producing a five-part series on Farm Secession, and the planning that needs to go into that.

On today's program, Nebraska extension ag economist Anastasia Meyer talks about where to get started.

She says it might seem to be a daunting task at first.

But necessary.

[Anastacia Meyer, Nebraska Extension Ag Economist]

You'll hear us say transition plans.

You'll often hear the word succession plan being thrown about too in other circles.

And we like to use the word transition plan because we think a transition plan is really the ideal thing.

It's a gradual and carefully thought-out plan and how to shift your farmer ranch to the next generation or the new owners if they're not related.

It's going to include the timelines of when does when is this going to happen?

What exactly is going to happen?

What are those milestones that you are looking for?

It's not a one day process.

This is probably going to take a minimum of 3 to 5 years.

So we need to be thinking about this long term and be able to adjust this.

This is a never ending process.

Most importantly, are those written agreements?

It's not real unless it's in writing and that's really because a lot of families have good intentions, but without those written agreements.

It's just empty promises.

And we always just think about death for succession plan, but really, we need to be thinking about disability, divorce, bankruptcies, disagreements in the family.

Do you want to retire?

We can adjust our transition plan when the good things in life happens too.

By starting this, theoretically or hopefully we can get that plan started that we can make those minor adjustments and we can see how the cash flow demands are and how we incorporate somebody else into the operation.

So, it's often a balancing act, right?

We have the owners.

You'll hear us say the golden rule of estate planning is whoever owns the gold gets to make the rules, and these are their concerns, right?

They don't want to be pushed out.

You have spent your life building up or maintaining this farmer ranch.

You like to be in control.

You don't want to be pushed out.

They don't want to talk about death or disability.

Thinking about your own demise is really hard and that's why, you know, this is a big fear for everybody.

The owners are afraid that the operation won't fail.

They might not be financially stable enough to retire and you'll hear us talk about a lot in different presentations, asset rich and cash for.

They might not simply have the cash to retire or step back and start this transition plan and they want the kids to get along.

The heirs who are returning to the operation, they don't want to just be the laborer.

They want a clear plan with outlines and deadlines and what exactly does that look for them?

They want to minimize their risk.

They want financial independence and they don't want to be at the mercy of their other siblings, whether they are on the farm or off the farm.

They want to have some steak in this transition plan and operation.

So, 1st thing that we need to do and getting started is recognize who is on your team.

Have, do you have anybody that is working with you on this transition plan?

Do you have a lawyer yet?

There are many lawyers who work with estate planning?

I personally recommend somebody that you find who focuses on agricultural estate planning because your farm is a lifestyle in a business and, you know, that's something that if you're not really familiar with, it's hard to understand.

Do you have a tax professional, do you have a banker, a financial planner?

Do you need to look at a foreign manager?

All of these different people can be on your team to have a really good transition plan.

[Brad Mills, Program Host]

Stay tuned to future programs where Anastasia talks about the importance of family communication during this process.

For Nebraska Extension Almanac, I'm Brad Mills.

Nebraska Extension Almanac is a production of IANR media, and Nebraska Extension.

For more information on how your university is serving Nebraskans, go to extension.unl.edu.