🔒Cultivating farmers: Succession planning a challenge for exiting farmers, incoming owners

Five years ago, Phil Norris and Deborah Wiggs were approaching their 70s and contemplating retirement from their farm operation in the Hancock County town of Blue Hill. The two started Clayfield Farm in 1992, turning 15 acres of their 160-acre woodlands into an organic farm; building a house, farm structures and the soil; and growing vegetables and flowers. But decades later, it was time to think about options. “We saw the writing on the wall,” says Norris. “We were both aging. We were still vital and we’re still vital now, but we know we won’t be forever.”

Seekers and owners

Norris and Wiggs posted their farm on websites like Maine FarmLink and New England Farm Finder, which connect people seeking farmland with farmland owners or their representatives looking to sell, lease or work out other tenure arrangements, Inquiries poured in. With a goal to ensure that Clayfield stayed a working farm, the couple started successive trial periods with couples who leased a portion of the land. The first two trials fell through.

The third couple, Anna Drew and Nathaniel Bolter, started last September. Drew was recently raking mulch from a no-till field while Bolter prepared a hoophouse. Norris was repairing a fence, bashed in by deer, around another field the younger couple plan to cultivate. Well into a one-year trial lease, things are looking good. “They’re working out beautifully,” says Norris. “They’re good farmers and they’re ambitious. They have a vision for this farm. So we’re all moving right along.”

Right fit

Working out a farm succession plan isn’t easy. Transitions can be complicated for exiting farm owners and incoming farmers, requiring not just transferring ownership but also skills and knowledge. The process can take many years, as older farmers look to secure a financial future while trying to keep their land in farming, and younger farmers try to find somewhere to farm.

“Farm business succession can be a lot more complex than other business succession because it involves not only the business but also the land, which is often also the family home,” says Ellen Sabina, Maine Farmland Trust’s director of farmer engagement and access. The nonprofit land trust, with offices in Belfast and Portland, works to protect farmland and support farmers to keep land in production, including programs to help with farm access and transfers. The organization’s Catherine Durkin leads the succession work and Hanne Tierney works with farm owners and seekers.

Personal and family dynamics are embedded in the process. “It can sometimes seem overwhelming to untangle all of that,” says Sabina. Continuing a farm often involves diversification or change to make it viable in today’s market, says Shemariah Blum-Evitts, executive director of Land For Good. What would count as a successful match? “Clear communication, clarity of vision, open mindsets and transparency are all key elements to a successful farm transfer,” says Blum-Evitts. “It can take several attempts to find a successor who is well aligned.” “It can take a while to find the right fit,” says Sabina.

Exploring crops

At Clayfield Farm, named after the nutrient-rich clay soil on which it was built, Norris and Wiggs have been winding down. Now in their mid-70s, Wiggs focuses on her thriving flower business, selling bouquets at local venues. Norris is maintaining the orchard. The lease to Drew and Bolter includes the lower fields, two greenhouses, two tractors and tools. The younger couple previously farmed in Ohio, then Alaska, before reaching out to the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardens Association in search of a long-term opportunity in Maine. The association put them in touch with Norris and Wiggs. They’re exploring dozens of crops this first year, starting with a half-acre with an eye toward expansion. Wiggs and Norris primarily sold at farmers markets and took weekly, pay-as-you-go orders from about 100 locals. Bolter and Drew have implemented a community-supported agriculture model that enrolls members who pre-pay for a whole season’s worth of produce, then collect food from the farm throughout the season, thus providing a guaranteed income. “Anna and Nathaniel are making good use of it,” says Norris. “The market is there. Whatever you grow, selling it is not a problem.”

Handshake lease

In the Knox County town of Hope, Anna and Kyle Rittenburg purchased Hope Orchards from longtime owner-operators Brien and Emily Davis. The Rittenburgs previously leased a portion of the land for several years as they established their vegetable farm, AK Produce. They plan to expand their offerings and they envision a year-round farm operation, which will continue to include apple picking in the autumn. The Rittenburgs, originally from upstate New York, met at Unity College, where they studied sustainable agriculture. “It was dream to have a farm in one form or another,” says Anna. Four years ago, an opportunity to buy a farm down the road from Hope Orchards fell through. Then they met the Davises through Anna’s parents. “One door closed and another one opened,” says Kyle. Terms of the handshake lease were easy. “We gave them free vegetable CSA share. That’s all they were asking for,” says Kyle. The Rittenburgs slowly grew a vegetable business on part of the land and eventually started managing the apple orchard. The Davises incubated the business, providing equipment and training. “We were there a few years, getting to know the Davises and figuring what we all wanted to see happen,” says Kyle. The Rittenburgs tapped Maine Farmland Trust resources to gain business expertise and the professional services they needed to buy the farm. The deal finalized in January. Financing included a loan with favorable terms through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency, a conventional loan from Ancorum Credit Union and a 5% down payment from the Rittenburgs. Advice for seekers? “Working with Maine Farmland Trust, taking their course and working with the Farm Service Agency really made it possible to do this,” says Anna.

How to set goals

Successful transitions often require careful navigation of multiple goals and often warrant in-depth financial planning and close consideration of many factors, says Maine Farmland Trust. Transferring the business while it’s still fully operational is ideal so that farmers have the resources to retire or transition to another opportunity, and the land stays in farming. Transitioning a farm business, land and/or other farm assets from one farm operator to the next can include transferring ownership, skills, knowledge and management roles. It can be complex and take many years. Historically, farms were handed down to children. Today, successors are often not family members. The process and financing options can be complicated. For incoming farmers, suitable farmland is harder to find, and afford, as farmland is lost to development and price and competition for available land increases, says Sabina. “Farmland access is the number one challenge we hear from beginning farmers as they face higher farm property values and increasing business costs,” Sabina says. “Succession planning can involve matching new farmers to farms in transition, and while it’s not necessarily going to be more affordable for the incoming farmer, ideally they’re walking into a property with existing infrastructure, which can decrease their start-up costs.” In Maine, the average farmland market value of land and buildings per acre spiked by 44% between 2017 and 2022, while the average production costs per farm rose by 24%, according to the 2022 U.S. Census of Agriculture. “At the same time, we’re seeing a wave of Maine farmers nearing retirement,” Sabina continues. “That means that there’s a lot of farmland that will be in transition, and farms are most vulnerable to falling out of agriculture when in transition.” She adds, “Both succession planning and access support can help protect the land by keeping that land in farming.” Agricultural conservation easements are a primary tool used by land trusts to permanently protect working farmland from non-agricultural development, even after it changes hands. Maine Farmland Trust adds that farmland protection can be achieved in other ways, including succession planning, business support and working with indigenous communities to return land to their stewardship.

Daydreaming

Karen and Paul Volckhausen started the organic Happytown Farm in the Hancock County town of Orland nearly 50 years ago, selling meat, vegetables, flowers and eggs. Shortly before the pandemic, they learned about Land for Good’s Farm Succession School, which helps senior farmers and partner’s work toward retirement and farm transition. Not yet ready to retire, they wanted to understand their options.

“At that time we set our goal as four to five years to retire,” says Karen. “We knew we wanted to live in our house on the farm for as long as we were able,” says Paul. “We were open to pretty much any option that came along. We started putting out the word that we were thinking about this.” It was a long process. One possibility fell through. “That was upsetting, so we said, ‘Let’s just put it away for a while,’” Karen recalls. An employee, Angelica Harwood, had been with them for four or five years. Karen was tending flowers with her one morning. “I said, ‘You need to work here the rest of your life and take care of us,’ We were laughing,” Karen recalls. “She said, ‘That’s so funny. I was talking with the rest of the crew and we were daydreaming about how we should take over the farm and take care of Paul and Karen.’”

Thousands of questions

Harwood was in the process of looking for land to start her own farm anyway. The pivot made sense. “We had such a good relationship,” Harwood says. “They saw my motivation and the things I was interested in.” Harwood enrolled in Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association’s journeyperson program, a two-year course for beginning farmers and farmworkers, and connected with Legal Food Hub, another nonprofit. She obtained an equipment loan from the Farm Service Agency. Working with Land For Good, Maine Farmland Trust and advisors, the two parties came up with a rolling seven-year lease that started Jan. 1, 2025. “I knew how to farm, but I had never explored the business side,” says Harwood. Of the Volckhausens, she adds, “They made everything easier.” Harwood leases the barn, farm infrastructure and about four of the 12 acres of cultivated land plus five acres of sugarbush. Karen stepped back while Paul continues maintaining the remaining land, cuts wood and runs the tractor. Harwood is doing more no-till or low-till farming than they did, expanding the perennial business and incorporating willow rows for windbreaks and basket-making sales. Harwood credits the Volckhausens for their mentoring — Karen on flowers, Paul on skills like crop rotation and sugarbushing. “Luckily, he’s still willing to answer all my thousands of questions,” Harwood says.

Creating a world

Although the industry faces challenges, including climate change and surging property prices, there are still more farm seekers than available farms. “We see about 10 people looking, for every property that’s posted,” Blum-Evitts says of the organization’s New England Farmland Finder site. “For some people, it’s that family legacy that they want to continue,” says Sabina. “For a lot of people, it’s about working outside in a physical job that’s rewarding. It’s about feeding your community, growing something that people need and also being an environmental steward. It’s a tangible way to be active in creating the world you want to be in. And it’s lifestyle — a lot of people really like living where they work and having that be an extension of their home and family life.”