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Farm succession planning: One family's approach

by Jay Stone
News Reporter

Posted on September 6, 2024 12:57 PM

Farm succession plans are often affected by if and how many of a farmer’s children are actively involved with the farm as adults.

For Kevin and Lydia Yon of Ridge Spring, S.C., no assumptions were made. The Yons, who own and run a 5,000-acre cattle operation, insisted their three children be involved in other things. 

“We tried to have a well-rounded childhood for our kids, even though it might have been inconvenient to have to get off the hay baler and go coach a little league game,” Lydia said. 

When their children graduated from high school, they took it a step further.

“They all went to college, and we decided that we were going to make a rule for our kids that once they left after high school, they had to be gone for four years,” Lydia said. “College could count, but they couldn't just come back and work for mom and dad during the summer.”

This resulted in their kids working on cattle, poultry, peach, row crop and potato farms in other states for a while.

“We would've loved for all the children to come back,” Kevin said. “We didn't have any idea that they would. We just wanted them to have a strong work ethic, an appreciation for where their food comes from, for the environment and for the land, and to go be successful at whatever their thing was.”

Ultimately, their thing was in Ridge Spring, but they returned with varied experiences and fresh ideas. 

Kevin and Lydia work with an estate attorney to develop their succession plan. 

“It all boils down to communication,” Lydia said. “As far as working with families’ succession planning, there's nothing except communication that's going to make that work. You have to take the first step and do it, even though it's not a fun thing to do.”