Working together to help farm families develop succession plans

2022 In-Person Meetings

Wednesday, November 2, 1:00 – 5 pm; Myrick Park Center, 789 Myrick Park Drive, La Crosse, WI.
Thursday, November 3, 1:00 – 5 pm; The Grand Meridian, 2621 N. Oneida St., Appleton, WI.

Registration for these meetings is $50 per person. Registration can be completed online at https://bit.ly/WIFSPN2022.

Agenda:

Farm Succession Planning from a Farm’s Perspective – Kelly Wilfert, an attorney with Ruder Ware, L.L.S.C., will outline a farm’s succession plan and include interviews with farm business partners to learn their perspectives on the planning process.

Professional Networking Activity – This session will be led by UW-Madison Division of Extension educators and will focus on several common farm succession topics so professionals can learn new ideas and strategies to use as they work with farm businesses.

Best Practices for Working with Service Professionals – Kaitlyn Davis and Joy Kirkpatrick, Division of Extension educators will provide an overview of a research project they are conducting to learn more about how farm businesses can best work with service professionals for productive outcomes.

Top Ten Things to Know about Wisconsin’ New LLC Act – Sarah Kons, partner at Hooper Law Office, and Justin Randall, associate attorney with Hooper Law Office, will share details on Wisconsin’s New LLC Act that will take effect January 1, 2023.

In January of 2014, a group of Wisconsin private sector professionals and educators who work with farm families on farm succession planning met to discuss ways to work together more effectively to help farm families transfer the farm to the next generation. Participants included attorneys, CPAs, tax practitioners, farm records professionals, consultants, lenders, insurance advisors, government employees, and educators. The group decided to pursue the following projects to enhance the services provided to farm families:

Establish common messages around the issue of farm succession
Create worksheets and other materials that can be used by all professionals
Set up a list serv for members of the group to share information
Meet on a regional basis to enhance networking with other professionals

From this meeting, the Wisconsin Farm Succession Professionals Network (WiFSPN) began. Since 2014 regional or statewide meetings have been offered each year. In the first years, WiFSPN partnered with Tax Insight, LLC, owned by Phil Harris, the UW Extension Farm Law/Tax Specialist.

In 2020 and 2021 WiFSPN shifted to online workshops for farm succession professionals. The group anticipates continuing online offerings and is returning to regional, in-person meetings in 2022.

The objective of these meetings is to bring educators, agencies, and service professionals together to build knowledge and skills and to discuss coordinating efforts in farm succession to better serve the Wisconsin agriculture community.

There is no membership fee to participate in WiFSPN. If you would like to be included in the email listserv, contact joy.kirkpatrick@wisc.edu