Keeping the forest in your family takes conscious effort for the best results

Many family-owned forests and family ranches/farms share the same succession planning challenges that are described by Patrick Thomas in a recent article(Wall Street Journal, February 18, 2026: A 1 and A11) titled “Farmers are aging. The family business is in peril”.  

He illustrates the challenges of a family of a 5th generation 74-year-old farmer, Don Guinnip, in southeastern Illinois who farms 1,000 acres of corn and soybeans, and a small number of cattle. Due to age and the physical requirements of the farm’s operations his physical capacities are diminishing. His siblings chose other nonfarming professions, but contributed labor as needed, but their participation has been fluid as time has passed and needs changed. Guinnip’s children went to college, and now have professional work far from the farm. Policy decisions and allocation of income (and losses) are managed under two trusts established by Guinnip’s grandfather (“G3”) with Don doing the administrative as well as the physical work.

Historically, in each generation one child was groomed to take over the farm. Don Guinnip assumed his son (G6”) would take over, but he was not interested in agriculture and went to college to learn another profession. Yet “. . . after graduating from college, he spent a year on the farm while his father recovered from surgery. Once Don Guinnip was able to return to work, his son headed west for a pharmaceutical job in St. Louis.”

Don Guinnip “. . . never tried to convince his daughter, to take over the farm.” As she has grown older, she’s developed a greater interest in the farm’s business operations. "‘Could I run it? Yes. Do I see myself doing the labor myself? No. She has encouraged her father to have more serious conversations about succession planning”.

At a recent regular meeting of the 4 sibling-shareholders of G5 they are aware of the crisis to farms from the trade war and low crop prices. The original plan under the terms of the trust “. . . was to have agreement that if a sibling wants out, the others will buy him or her out to prevent the farm being sold to outsiders. However, farmland prices are now so high that plan is no longer feasible. . . .” The siblings also have different ideas about how to operate the farm in future. One brother wants to divide the farm into separate parcels for the grandchildren, so they won’t fight over farm management practices. Other siblings cited the difficult of such an approach noting that

“Hills and dense trees make some of the land difficult to farm. Which of their children would get the land with the hills, and which would get the most productive ground?”

A third sibling suggests they consider reorganizing the farm as a limited liability company. The structure would make it easier to manage as a business, and more straightforward for future generations, allowing the siblings to transfer shares rather than physical acreage.” Two other siblings think no change is needed.

Don Guinnip spends most of the back-and-forth listening. When he does speak, his family listens. Especially when Guinnip tells them he thinks he can keep farming for about two more years.  This delays the immediacy of the decision, and the siblings agree to up their meetings to twice a year. Much remains undecided. The Guinnip’s have one advantage: they are willing to keep talking with each other over a long time, which many other families are not.

This dynamic is occurring in families who own forestland, whether the forest is part of a farm or ranch, or is owned solely as forestland. Succession planning is easy to postpone. The protection or enhancement of family harmony often results from sustained efforts to implement the ‘soft side’ decision-making for family businesses, e.g. who will make day-to-day management decisions, but is key to families’ desire and ability to keep forests in the family. If consensus can be reached over the soft-side decisions, the more complex external matters will usually follow, e.g. the right business legal structure for the property, and the legal and financial estate planning with attorneys, appraisers, and accountants. 

CFCF has funded a unique pilot program with The Buckeye Conservancy in Ferndale, California, which subsidizes a facilitator expert in the interpersonal aspects succession planning for ranching/farming/timber families, to give families a neutral space and professional assistance to have the emotion-laden often difficult conversations that can result better succession planning.  The pilot program, “A Space to Plan” will run through 2026. To learn more, contact Hannah Van Duser, executive director at info@thebuckeye.org.