First Posted: 2/18/2015
BLUFFTON — Probst Family Farms is going through “growing pains” right now, instead of potentially having to downsize.
That’s because owner Greg Probst knows his sons are interested in carrying on the family business.
“I’m thrilled that they’re wanting to do that,” said the 56-year-old, who runs the 90-acre Bluffton farm with his wife, Laura, and his three sons.
The family has talked about it, and Probst said all three sons are interested in the farm. Though it may seem easy, having that conversation is the first, and sometimes toughest, step for some farmers facing a transition.
What’s most important when planning for a transition of ownership is having a family meeting, said Don Schreiber, director of the Advanced Consulting Group at Nationwide Financial.
“Now’s the time to take the step to move forward,” he said.
Schreiber spoke at the Ag Outlook event hosted by the Lima/Allen County Chamber on Commerce and sponsored by Citizens National Bank on Thursday and emphasized the importance of keeping “Land as Your Legacy” and passing farms on to family.
The farmer population is aging. As a result, 70 percent of the farm industry in the nation will transition in the coming years, he said.
Only 70 percent of those will transfer to family members.
In the past and present, family background has been integral to the nation’s farming industry, as there are 2.1 million farms open in the United States today, and 97 percent of them are family-owned, Schreiber said.
“You cannot talk about farms without talking about family,” he said. “They’re intertwined.”
The two weren’t always intertwined for Levi Probst, Probst’s son. The family didn’t take over ownership of the farm until 2007, though it’s been in their family since 1897.
Levi, 19, has wanted to be a farmer ever since he can remember, so his father inheriting the farm has given him an opportunity to pursue that dream.
The Probsts seemingly seamless succession plan may be unusual for farmers these days.
There is a trend of people “falling out of farming,” said Erica Hawkins, spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Agriculture’s Century Farms program.
The program recognizes family farms that have been working the same ground for more than 100 years, Hawkins said. There’s more than 1,000 in the state and still more coming into it.
People “falling out of farming” may be a reversible trend if farmers have a succession plan. Lacking a plan is one of the biggest mistakes farmers make, said Schreiber’s colleague, Renick Brown, a local financial adviser with Nationwide.
“They think everything just transfers over, no problem, and that’s not how it works,” Brown said.
There can be tax issues or legal problems that often vary by state, though there are programs like Nationwide’s to help farmers navigate the transition.
As for the Probsts, the only issue now is the “growing pains” of trying to expand the farm so it can support two families and not just one.
“It’s been in our family for over 100 years, I’d like to see it go a lot more than that,” Levi Probst said. “There’s a lot of family background here.”
