"Strengthening and Sustaining Farms and
Farmers"
Join us for a free
seminar featuring a dynamic group of local and nationally recognized
individuals discussing the path farmers need to be on so as to strengthen their operations and
also themselves.
When: February 5, 2020
Where: Ivy Tech Community Campus, Logansport,
Indiana.
On February 5, 2020, at 5:00 pm,
there will be a seminar in Logansport, Indiana, at the Ivy Tech Community Room,
located at: 1 Ivy Tech Way, Logansport, IN
46947. Our
seminar will focus on ways to strengthen your farm and
yourself. We have been blessed with being
able to bring in a strong lineup of speakers from across the County.
For many farmers, times are still very tough in
agriculture. The down economic
conditions continue to persist with some saying such will continue for quite
some time. For many farms, survival will
not come down to growing the most bushels.
Rather, survival will come down to being better business managers and
taking advantage of income generation and savings that may not have had to be
utilized in the past. The old saying “if
you keep doing what you been doing, you will keep getting what you been
getting” rings more true than ever. This
seminar is geared towards getting farmers to recognize changes that will be
beneficial to their operations and how to implement them.
In
addition, it goes without saying that current times have seen a rise in stress
among farmers, and sadly, suicides. I’ve
personally reached out to Ted Mathews from Minnesota, who is a nationally
recognized mental health expert that has spent decades helping farmers and asked
him to be a part of this seminar. Ted
helps man the Minnesota Farm and Rural Helpline and has been on the front lines
of mental health issues with farmers.
I
am hopeful that information from this seminar will directly help attendees and
make a difference this year for their farm, themselves, and, especially in
timely spotting mental health troubles,
perhaps even their neighbors.
Without further ado, our lineup and topics are as follows:
Now, allow me to address farm business
structures, or lack thereof. Sadly, the
USDA recently reported that a staggering 86% of farms in the US are still operated
as a sole proprietorship. Basically, the
exact mirror imagine of non-farm businesses.
I stand firm in telling clients that farming as a sole proprietorship is
a recipe for disaster in that the farmer is only one accident, environmental
issue, or financial crisis away from losing everything. In addition, properly setting up the farm
provides the ability to benefit greatly from a tax standpoint. Lastly, succession planning is greatly
streamlined when the farm is structured correctly. As I say all the time, farmers do not trot
the horse and plow out any longer as it is yesterday’s technology. So, when it comes to the structure of the
farm, why are so many farmers using yesterday’s business model? What will it take to get farmers to take up a
modern business structure for their farm?
Can progress be made in this area?
These questions, as well as in depth discussion of benefits in properly
structuring your farm, will be the topic of my portion of the seminar.
Jeff Milligen, CPA Baker
& Milligen, Logansport Indiana
One of the most
dreaded words to a farmer is the word “taxes”.
The non-farm citizens of this country usually view paying tax as
confirmation that they had a profitable year.
Well, not us farmers. Farmers
view having to pay taxes as noting short of a catastrophe. I have seen clients make poor purchase
decisions, poor marketing decisions, and everything in between, all in the name
of saving on taxes. I always say that,
as farmers, tax planning (if you want to call it planning) either
consists of end of the year equipment purchases, often of which we do not
need. Or, we “can kick” where we do the
famous pre-payment of input expense for the next year in the current year. “Can kicking”, is just that, you are kicking
the tax liability into the next year. It
can work, but what happens if you have less expenses the following year? For example, weather leads to reduced
planting, so less acres, thus less expenses.
Or, the farmer retires, but holds grain into the next year to maximize
the carry in the market, but has no expenses.
Would it not be
nice if there was another viable method of saving on taxes instead of
unnecessary purchases and “can kicking”?
Of course, so I have asked CPA Jeff Milligen to discuss how farmers can
save on taxes by using an LLC or Corporation to minimize taxes. Jeff has been a practicing CPA since 1993 and
speaks with a national tax education company.
If done properly, the possibility exists to greatly reduce tax liability. Numerous times over the years I have seen
clients, with a properly structured farm, save on tax liability so that “can
kicking” or purchasing is not needed. Jeff will also talk about recent changes in
tax laws from the 2018 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that affect farmers.
Todd Landrum, Ag Resource
Management, Huntington, Indiana
In my practice,
I have been assisting numerous clients as it pertains to their farm finances
and lending situations. Sadly, many
lenders have tightened up and farmers are finding themselves having fully pledged
land and equipment leaving no room for an operating loan. Todd will discuss how to strengthen your farm
operation via obtaining operating loans based off of crops and crop insurance,
instead of pledging hard assets such as land and equipment. Todd has been a big help to several of my
clients, so I have asked him to be a part of our seminar in hopes perhaps there
are other farmers that he could assist.
Andy Junkin, Agricultural Strategy, Iowa
Over the years, I
have come to the conclusion that every farm family as a certain degree of
dysfunction. I joking say the “D” in
dysfunction ranges from a subscript size “D” to a billboard sized "D". Andy is a national speaker and
has literally “written the book” on farm family dynamics with farm families and
working together. Actually, he even actually
has written a book: “bullet proof your farm”.
Andy has been kind enough to provide free copies of his book at our
seminar. We all know you can have the
best farm in the world, but if the members of the farm cannot get along, then
the farm will not survive. Sadly, in my
practice, I seem to see more contention with farming families, owners of farm
ground, and farming partnerships. Maybe it is a sign of the times. Maybe it is due to the economic
downturn. Whatever the reason, Andy will
be addressing many of the issues that confront farm families in getting along.
Susan McClish, Agri-File Solutions, LLC Howe, Indiana Like it, hate
it, or do not care, either way government programs and their impact are front
and center in farming again. ARC/PLC,
Market Facilitation Program, EQUIP, Conservation incentives…the list goes on. There are numerous government programs that
can be a resource for farmers. Sadly,
many farmers are unaware of the programs they qualify for and what needs to be
done to ensure they maintain eligibility.
Susan McClish has 30+ years with the Farm Service Agency, and upon
retirement, founded Agri-File Solutions, LLC, that assists farmers with
ensuring they are aware of eligible programs, how to qualify for ones they are
not, and assists farmers with making sure their yearly required documentation
is in order. The data I have reviewed
shows that direct farm payments are the highest since 2005. Thus, these payments equate to a large
portion of farm income and I think it is import for farmers to, at the very
least, know what is available and how to qualify.
Ted
Matthews, Farm Mental Health Counselor, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
As mentioned above, with the
number of articles I have read this year on farmer mental health, farmer
depression, and farmer suicides, I wanted to work in an element of this seminar
regarding farmer mental health. Ted
Matthews is literally on the front lines of mental health as he helps man the
Minnesota Farm and Rural Helpline. He
will discuss managing stress, the warning signs of mental health issues, and
how to get help when needed. The stigma
of mental health issues among farmers appears to be easing, but more discussion
is needed on this subject. Especially when it comes to getting help to farmers who are restive to getting help.
We
would appreciate your support of this seminar as we believe there will be a lot
of information to be gained that can make and impact on our farms. If you do decide to attend, you can call
574-643-9999 to attend. Later this
month, more information will be posted on our website at www.thefarmlawyer.com.
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