Farmers Legal Assistance Network

To visit the main page of the Farmers Legal Assistance Network, go to:  farmlawhelp.com



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Observations on Ways to Make Farm Profitable for the Next Generation

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In last month’s article we discussed whether or not the next generation can afford to take over the farming operation.I received a lot of feedback on the article and one response stuck with me.The question was posed, if the farm is not making ends meet now, how can it then be profitable to the next generation, especially being profitable enough for to bring in the next generation? It was a very good question and had me thinking on a response for quite some time.I will first lay out a disclaimer (we attorneys are good at doing such) and say that I am not a farm economist.Nor am I versed in financial advising.In addition, not every farm is going to be helped by what I write in this article, nor is what I write about a good fit for everyone.I am merely going of off 14 years of law experience and having worked with hundreds and hundreds of farmers running just about every type of farm operation there is.Here goes:
1.Farm Structure:The sooner a famer can structure their farm as a legal enti…
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Heed the canary in your farm’s financial coal mine

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(Authors Note:This article will be a multi part series that discusses some of the challenges we are seeing due to the current farm economy and offers some thoughts and suggestions on action that can be taken.) Most of us know where the saying “canary in the coal mine” comes from.Basically, canaries were used in mines from the late 1800s to detect gases, such as carbon monoxide. The gas is deadly to humans – and canaries alike – in large quantities, but canaries are much more sensitive to small amounts of the gas, and so will react more quickly than humans. I always envisioned that a miner would stick a canary in a bird cage down in the mine, and if they saw the canary drop over dead, then it was time to get out.Boy was I wrong.A device was actually invented (see above picture) that had a circular door that would be kept open and had a grill to prevent the canary escaping. Once the canary showed signs of carbon monoxide poisoning the door would be closed and a valve opened, allowing oxyg…
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The Doctrine of Title by Acquiescence: Losing Land by Agreement or Consent.

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            Rarely does a person agree or consent to lose part of their land.However, such can happen in cases where a fence between neighbors turns out to not be on the legal boundary line.The norm is that a fence between neighbors is erected on the legal boundary line between the two adjacent properties.However, sometimes landowners have a mistaken belief that the fence marks the legal boundary line between two properties when it actually does not.Other times the adjacent landowners agree to treat an existing fence not on the legally boundary line as the legal boundary line.No matter the various circumstances, a fence that is believed to mark the legal boundary line, and turns out to not be the case, usually leads to a dispute at some point.
How does the law generally treat these instances where an individual is acquiescent to a boundary fence not being on the legal boundary line?Enter the Doctrine of Title by Acquiescence.Essentially, this doctrine determines the legal boundary lin…
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