Effect of agricultural policy on succession decisi

Authors: Ashok K Mishra Hisham S ElOsta

Publish Date: 2008/04/11

Volume: 6, Issue: 3, Pages: 285-307

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Abstract

Policymakers economists and researchers have recently been interested in assessing the impact of farm program payments on the growth and survival of farm businesses Planning for succession is an integral part of managing a farm business This study uses farmlevel data to investigate the impact of government farm policy and farm growth on both succession decisions and the likelihood of intrafamily transfers of the farm business Results indicate that succession decisions are significantly influenced by government farm policy farm wealth age and educational attainment of current farm operators Results show that offfarm work by operators and spouses and regional location are positively correlated with nonfamily farm succession decisions On the other hand farm ownership educational attainment and marital status of the operator increase the likelihood of familybased succession decisions However in the presence of retirement income from other sources such as pension parents are less likely to have a family successorThe authors would like to thank two anonymous referees and the editor for helpful discussion and comments This project was supported by the USDA Cooperative State Research Education Extension Service Hatch project 0212495 and Louisiana State University Experiment Station project LAB 93872

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