Join UW-Madison Division of Extension Farm Management Specialists Joy Kirkpatrick, Steph Plaster, Kelly Wilfert, and Kevin Bernhardt as they lead discussions and activities during the Cultivating Your Farm’s Future workshop series. This program will provide tools and resources for farmers who want to start their succession plans.
The program will explore the three-step process of planning your business succession:
- Where are you now?
- Where do you want to be?
- How do you get there?
This workshop series will prepare you to shape and communicate your ideas about the future of the farm and business as well as save time by having these crucial conversations before visiting with professionals.
Who should attend?
This program is for farm businesses and farm families interested in shaping the future ownership of their farm. If you are the owner generation, you may be wondering how to transfer to the next generation or develop a fair inheritance distribution plan. If you are the next generation, you may have questions or ideas about your future role in the farm business or how to make it financially feasible and realistic for your goals. Multiple farm/family members are encouraged to attend together.
What topics are covered?
- Communication preferences and how to talk about the farm’s future
- Common tensions around farm succession
- Inheritance distributions – Is equal fair?
- Financials for farm succession
- Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats – SWOT analysis
- Estate planning including probate & estate tax
- Wills, trusts, & business entities
- Setting goals and action steps
When are these workshops?
There are two workshop series available in the upcoming months:
November/December 2025
6:30 – 8:00 PM Thursday evenings, November 13, 20, and December 4 & 11, 2025. This series also offers an optional action planning session on Thursday, January 15, 2026.
February 2026
6:30 – 8:00 PM Thursday evenings, February 5, 12, 19, 26, 2026. This series also offers an optional action planning session on Thursday, March 19, 2026.
How is the program delivered?
The four (plus one optional) sessions will be live via Zoom, so participants can join from anywhere! Each week participants will receive an email with homework assignments. The homework is designed to help participants gather information and be prepared for the discussions and activities during the live Zoom sessions. The live sessions will not be recorded so everyone can feel comfortable participating. The homework will be a mix of short videos, worksheets or reading assignments. The hard copies of the materials for the program will be mailed out before the first week of class. If the farm has participants living at different locations, we will need all the addresses at registration so we can mail materials to the appropriate addresses.
Registration details
Registration Fee: $150/per farm. We encourage farms to sign up multiple farm/family members (all for $150/farm). This fee provides one Cultivating Your Farm’s Future workbook and one Cultivating Continuity book per farm, a participant manual for each person registered, access to course videos that are assigned as homework, and four (with an optional fifth) live zoom classes. If farms want additional Cultivating Your Farm’s Future workbooks those are $15/additional workbook. Additional Cultivating Continuity books are $25 each.
Register online at https://uwmadison.eventsair.com/farm2526/reg/Site/Register
The registration deadline for the November/December 2025 series is October 24, 2025, to ensure participants receive the mailed materials in time for the first class. The registration deadline for the February 2026 series is January 16, 2026. Registration is limited to 20 farms for each series.
Even if you have attended other transition, estate, or succession planning classes, consider attending this program to get a START on YOUR succession plan.
For more information contact Joy Kirkpatrick, Farm Succession Outreach Specialist, joy.kirkpatrick@wisc.edu, (608) 263-3485
