The Legacy of Farming: A New Perspective with Jace D. Young

Jace D. Young’s aspirations for a future on his family’s Kansas farm were abruptly changed when his grandfather experienced bankruptcy. This life-altering event has fueled Young’s mission to empower farmers in understanding their financial landscapes, safeguarding their futures, and establishing enduring legacies.

15 Minutes With Jace D. Young

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Lost Legacy

Young’s family farm, established near Tribune, Kansas, by his grandfather in the 1950s, blossomed into a significant enterprise by the early 2000s, valued at $10-15 million with a 14,000-head feed yard, 5,000 acres of farmland, and a grain elevator that provided jobs for extended family members.

However, everything came crashing down. “My dad just looked at me and said, ‘Hey, just so you know, everything’s done. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to shut everything down and find something else to do,’” Young recalled. This jarring moment forced his family to abandon their home on the farm and their 40 years of savings, approximately $300,000. They relocated to a small house in town, and his father took a job driving a trash truck.

Reflecting on this experience, Young emphasizes that the situation might have been different had they possessed clear financial records. “Many individuals in agriculture make lifelong decisions based on what their parents assert. My dad was caught off-guard; had my grandfather communicated what was happening six months earlier, the outcome could have been different.”

New Vision

Though the circumstances altered his initial plans to join the family business, Young expressed gratitude towards this turning point, claiming it shifted his life’s perspective. He opted to pursue a college education and worked as an agriculture banker for approximately five years.

“This was crucial for my journey. While growing up on the farm, I witnessed operational struggles. However, stepping into the banking realm exposed me to financial gaps and the errors that my grandfather made due to a lack of clear numbers, which obscured the risks and shifts in the market,” Young explained.

In search of greater control over his destiny, Young established Legacy Farmer in 2019, a coaching platform supporting farmers in achieving financial clarity, structure, and confidence for protecting their operations and building lasting legacies.

“To my grandfather, legacy meant simply passing on assets and wealth. To me, it encompasses passing on opportunities. Some of that includes assets, but I have no expectations for my children to inherit my current operations. My legacy will be the opportunities I provide and how they speak of me after I’m gone,” Young emphasized.

Lessons For Farmers

Young underscores the importance of maintaining meticulous financial records, stressing that this process should begin before assuming control of the farm. “If you return to the operation and parents are not transparent about the financials, that’s a major red flag,” he remarked. “A principal reason why generational farms fail is due to a lack of financial conversation, which robs children of evolving from an employee mindset to a business-minded perspective.”

He advises clients to refresh their cash flow statements monthly. “If you don’t update your numbers regularly, you can’t effectively plan or react to changing circumstances,” he continued.

His company’s software, Farmer Metrics, facilitates the establishment of cash flow outlines. Young recounted how many farmers approach local banks with year-end balance sheets completed hastily before meetings. “They treat their multi-million dollar operations as if they were hobbies,” he added.

As a banker in his twenties, Young encountered farmers in their fifties seeking loans for additional land without being aware of their financial standings. He aims for his clients to understand their financial situation before entering the bank, thus shifting the dynamic of the relationship and granting them more leverage.

Links and Resources

• Discover more about Legacy Farmer and listen to Young’s podcast.
• Drew Cox provides an agricultural perspective on legacy, succession, and the future of farming in Missouri and beyond.
• Learn how livestock economist Danyelle Chinn transforms complex data into actionable insights for farmers.
• Explore more interviews in the 15 Minutes With a Farmer series.

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