Ag News

YF&R'S hear about perserverance, conservation and succession

By Jay Stone, Georgia Farm Bureau

The Georgia Farm Bureau Young Farmers & Ranchers Summer Leadership Conference, held July 17-20 on Jekyll Island, provided opportunities to network and receive messaging from first-generation farm owners Kevin and Lydia Yon, Marine veteran and TV personality Johnny Joey Jones, the Farms Fund, the Georgia Department of Agriculture and succession planning expert Ron Hanson.

Conference attendees also pitched in some time to the Harvest for All project, assembling approximately 13,000 meals to be donated to Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia, one of the regional food banks in Feeding Georgia’s network.

Yons share about perseverance and faith

First-generation farm owners Kevin and Lydia Yon of Ridge Spring, South Carolina, appeared as keynote guests during the Thursday opening session.

The Yons, who were named the 2018 Sunbelt Ag Expo Farmers of the Year, shared how their family and farming career have developed over time. Now, they farm a total of 5,000 acres with approximately 1,200 brood cows and 200 commercial cows.

The couple met as students at Clemson University, where they both studied animal science in the early 1980s. They landed a tandem internship/job managing a ranch near Columbia. That lasted seven years, but the ranch owner decided he did not want to have cows anymore. From there, the Yons moved to Ridge Spring to manage another family’s farm, with a deal in place that allowed them to start their own operation on 100 acres.

The Yons talked about debt, their faith journey and how they’ve handled having their now-grown children come back to the family farm.

The Yons’ expanding farm came with taking on debt. While the couple knows that taking out loans is not the way some people want to operate, taking on debt has allowed them to establish themselves without inheriting family land.

“This is a pretty neat thing we get to do, isn't it?” Kevin said of the experience of farming with family. 

A chance to preserve farmland

Krisztian Varsa of the Farms Fund led a breakout session about the organization, which is an offshoot of The Conservation Fund. The Farms Fund creates a pathway to affordable land ownership for diverse next-generation farmers, Varsa said, by breaking down traditional barriers accessing capital, accelerating adoption of sustainable agricultural practices, permanently conserving farmland at risk of being lost to development and growing resilient local food systems.

Varsa pointed out that the 2022 Census of Agriculture documented about 3,000 fewer Georgia farms than the previous ag census in 2017.

“The number of farmers is going down and the average size of the farm is going up and the number of folks who are aging out of farming is increasing,” Varsa said. “The average age of the farmer went up again in the latest ag census, and that means that we have fewer farms and fewer farmers and at the end of the day, that's not going to work. We need food, we need fiber, we need materials. We need the things that farmers provide, and we don't have a system that makes sure that next generation farmers can get to the land and produce those things.”

The Farms Fund helps farmers acquire small to mid-sized tracts of farmland, invests in the development of farm infrastructure and coordinates various types of support to help the farmers achieve success.

Through the purchase of conservation easements, the farmland is permanently protected from being developed for non-farm uses like residential, industrial or commercial projects.

Varsa said the Farms Fund aims to establish a network of 80 farms serving metro Atlanta over the next 10 years.

To qualify, farmers must have three years of farm management experience, a desire to farm more than 20 acres, and have a viable business plan, among other things.

For more information about The Farms Fund, visit www.farmsfund.org or email Varsa at kvarsa@conservationfund.org .

Overcoming adversity and embracing sacrifice

Johnny Joey Jones, a Marine Corps veteran, best-selling author and contributor to Fox News, talked about his experiences growing up the son of a brick mason in Whitfield County.  Jones also discussed serving in the Marine Corps’ Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) and losing his legs when he stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) during a tour of duty in Afghanistan.

From his dad, Jones learned the importance of doing things right. Jones recounted the story of his father cutting his hand because he refused to wear gloves, reasoning that his ability to feel the brick and mortar helped him do a better job and would save someone else trouble later.

After high school, Jones joined the Marine Corps, working first as a radio technician and later as an EOD technician, finding bombs and then either defusing them or moving them to a place where they could be set off safely. In the explosion that cost Jones his legs, a fellow Marine and friend was mortally wounded when a wall fell on him.

In the hospital afterward, Jones asked a nurse where his friend was.

“She wiped my forehead, my mouth and my face. And then she said, ‘Don't worry, you're going to walk again,’ ” Jones recalled. “She knew if she told me the answer to the question I was asking, the guilt and sadness might dictate that journey for the rest of my life, that in that moment she had the opportunity to tell me what I needed to hear when I needed to hear it, even when that wasn't what I was asking for.”

Jones told the young farmers and ranchers that he sees sacrifice in their chosen profession and he emphasized that there is nobility in it.

“You're here because you've chosen a harder road than most, but one that's worth it, that comes with fulfillment. You're here because you've chosen to take responsibility for your life and earn a living to do it for those you care about and have responsibility to,” he said. “You're here because you want to be here. You're here because you have a love for life that others don't. And now you have a chance to share it.”

Getting a food safety license

Allison Strickland, the Georgia Department of Agriculture South Georgia district manager for

retail food safety, walked conference attendees through licensing categories for selling food to the public.

Generally, the type of license required depends on where the food product is to be consumed. Retail food products are sold directly to the consumer and are consumed off premises. Manufactured food products are those that are distributed to stores, restaurants, or for interstate/intrastate commerce or exports. Manufactured food products include shellfish but do not include meat products, which are subject to the GDA meat inspection program or USDA licensing.

For detailed information about food safety licensing under the Georgia Department of Agriculture, visit https://agr.georgia.gov/food-and-fuel .

Passing it on: Succession planning dos and don’ts

University of Nebraska Professor Emeritus Dr. Ron Hanson led two breakout sessions covering succession planning. In the first session, he covered common mistakes to avoid. In the second session, he discussed key steps in mapping out a succession plan.

Hanson consults with families seeking to pass their farms from one generation to the next. He said that 70% of farmland ownership will change ownership within the next 15 years.

“Most family operations start out with the very, very best of intentions, hopes, dreams, promises, and then something happens, and we have a train wreck,” Hanson said. “What are those consequences of failing to implement that transition plan? The family ag business ends up being dissolved and the farm itself ends up being divided or split apart.”

The seven common mistakes Hanson discussed include:

- Not making succession planning a priority

- Keeping everything private with too many secrets for fear of losing or sharing managerial control

- Failure to communicate

- Lack of definition for goals and expectations

- Sidestepping issues to avoid confrontation

- Indecision and poor plan execution.

In the second session, Hanson began with the main thing that tests family farming relationships: family wealth. He noted that only 30% of family farming operations will make it past a second generation without a transition plan. Of those only 12% will make it past the third generation without a plan. And of that number, only 3% will make it past a fourth generation without a plan.

“When you get down to it, money, wealth, property and particularly land ownership really puts families to the test,” Hanson said. “Families fighting over money and land ownership destroys relationships. All the more reason you've got to plan and have that transition plan in place that's documented and discussed so everyone knows what is going to be done and how it's going to be done.”

Hanson listed five strategies to ensure effective succession planning:

- Insist that all family members participate in the planning process and establish priorities

- Identify list of goals and expectations, including personal wishes and fears

- Focus on family core values and be sure all voices are heard and respected

- Be persistent, set deadlines and follow through

- Ask the difficult family questions. Be honest and transparent to achieve clarity and understanding.

Finally, Hanson emphasized the importance of designating a facilitator – a “take charge” person and family member leader who all family members respect, trust and look to for direction.

For more information about Hanson’s consulting services, visit www.passingonthefarm.com. Hanson may be contacted at ron@passingonthefarm.com.

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