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Midwest Land Transfer Navigators

Are you wondering about the future of your farm?
We are here to support you from start to finish.

AFT's trained staff are ready to provide direct one-on-one assistance to support you:

  • Access valuable information and planning resources.

  • Set goals and identify the next steps in your planning process.

  • Prepare for conversations with family members and business partners.

  • Connect with attorneys, business advisors, and other experts.

  • Stay on track with your plans and continue making progress.

Explore Transfer Resources

Information for Service Providers

Do you support farmers and ranchers in the Midwest?

Check here for resources, news, and upcoming events in the region!

Heading to an event? Download our one-pagers for quick, helpful info here!

Watch Past Forum Recordings

Farm Succession Stories and Estate Planning

Farmers Darin Riggs and Pete Badtke share their farm succession stories, while Attorney Curt Ferguson, founder of The Estate Planning Center, discusses estate planning’s role in the process.

Estate Planning Tools for Farms

Kelly Wilfert from UW-Madison Extension discusses the role of estate planning tools in farm transfer planning, covering transitional legal challenges, common legal tools and strategies, and how to reduce risks.

Ag Service Providers: Approaches to Farm Succession

Ag service providers - Joy Kirkpatrick (UW-Madison Extension), Renee Wiatt (Purdue University), and Jim Molenaar (Minnesota Department of Agriculture) share their expertise on farm succession and transfer. They discuss how they use a team-based approach with families, tackle key challenges, and incorporate valuable tools and resources.

Conservation Easements in Farm Succession

Jerry Cosgrove (AFT) discusses how conservation easements can be used in farm succession. He covers key topics like farm business planning, land and site planning, tax planning, and estate planning. 6th-generation farmer Kyle Zweig shares his experience in planning on a farm protected by a conservation easement.

Ag Mediation in Farm Succession

Kiley Fleming, Executive Director of the Iowa Mediation Service, and Kevin Plante, Senior Ag Specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Ag, Trade, and Consumer Protection - discuss the role of ag mediation in farm succession planning.

Exploring Communication and Conflict

Renee Wiatt from the Purdue Institute for Family Business and Claudia Kenny from AFT explore why conflict is so common in farm succession, how to build more effective and productive farm meetings, and how to understand and work with different conflict styles.

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The Land Transfer Navigators Partnership

An estimated 41% of agricultural land is projected to change hands by 2035. In response, American Farmland Trust, in partnership with USDA-NRCS, has launched the Land Transfer Navigators program to support retiring landowners and the next generation of farmers and ranchers.

Learn more about the Land Transfer Navigators
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Learn more about AFT’s Midwest programs

In the Midwest, AFT works with farmers, landowners, and conservation partners to improve the health of our soils and protect them from water and wind erosion. In addition to working with farmers and landowners, we also support the implementation of conservation by quantifying outcomes of soil health practices to prove “they work." In the Midwest, we need to save the land – not just by the acre but also by the inch.

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