Farm Transitions: Levelland Farmer Sam Stanley - A Guest Post by Samantha Yates
The following is an excerpt from the December issue of Competing for Profit written by Samantha Yates. Read the entire issue at
www.aaec.ttu.edu/acc/CompetingForProfit/FarmTransition.pdf
It is one thing to work on a farm all your life, raise a family, and be able to pass down your hard earned land and equipment to your grown children who you trust to effectively take over management responsibilities. 
It is another, however, to have a successful farm and collection of modern equipment, yet no heirs to whom you can pass it all. The later scenario is the position in which a growing number of retirement aged farmers are finding themselves.
Sam Stanley falls into the later category. Stanley, who is 53, farms cotton on 2,000 acres in Levelland, Texas. He has effectively installed drip irrigation on 1,700 acres, which have averaged 3.2 bales of cotton per acre the past four years, with one or two fields making 4 bales per acre every year. Stanley's remaining 300 acres produce dryland cotton.
In addition to his farmland and irrigation systems, Stanley has also accumulated an impressive amount of equipment including: module builders, cotton strippers, tractors, planters, and much more. While it may seem as if Stanley is sitting in a favorable position with abundant land and valuable equipment, there is one component absent from his farm. Stanley has no heir to whom he can leave it all. 
Stanley does have children, all of whom were raised on the farm; however, they are now grown and have pursued lifestyles outside of the family farm. This leaves Stanley, who is nearing his retirement years, with no heir to take over farm management responsibilities.
Although Stanley is not ready for full retirement, and probably will not be for several more years, he is ready for more flexibility in his time and less manual labor. He would like to be able to call on someone else who he trusts to make proper management decisions and repair irrigation or equipment problems, rather than doing it all himself.
So what is the best solution for Stanley and his farm? According to Stanley, the simplest solution would probably be to sell the land and equipment and split up the money between his three children, which he initially thought he could do without any emotional attachment. However, now that his retirement years are nearing, he realizes that the sentimental ties he has formed with his farm through years of hard work and financial investment may not be as simple to let go of as he originally thought. Plus, Stanley said he is not sure he can go from working as full-time farm manager and operator to being fully retired.
Stanley said he is more interested in hiring a young man with some education and farming background to work as his farm manager. He could pay this individual a salary and work out some sort of agreement where the young man gradually becomes invested in the farm. Stanley would be able to mentor the young man and teach him the specifics of his farm, which Stanley has worked years to make successful. The young man could check water, run equipment and perform other labor which would allow Stanley more flexibility in his schedule.
While this sounds easy enough, it is actually complicated. Stanley said he is unaware of any young men who wish to farm but do not already have a family farm to which they can return. He said he believes that it will take someone who grew up in a farming atmosphere and understands that at times of the year farmers must work long hours and seven days a week.
"Sometimes it rains right before you have something else planned," Stanley said, "and you have to run a sand-fighter no matter what else you had going on or what day it is. That's just what it takes to be a successful farmer and not lose your crop."
Stanley said he could be competitive enough on his offered salary to hire a college graduate; however, he said 14 hour work days and weekends would often be required, and he will have to find a person willing and understanding to accept those conditions.
Stanley also said ongoing advancements in technology create a need for farmers to be educated and intelligent. He said farmers today must be good decision makers and have the ability to perform a variety of tasks.
"Farmers today have to wear a lot of hats," Stanley said. "We have to be business managers, mechanics, agronomists, understand financing, and with so many varieties of seed now available, we almost have to be chemists."
Stanley said he would be willing to work with college students who are interested in returning to a farm through internships. This would allow him to become acquainted with young men who are interested in farming and he can trust are educated and motivated. As of right now, however, Stanley does not know how to go about finding a young man who would be interested in his offer.
If someone does come along, Stanley said a strong and trusting relationship must be formed in order for the process to work. He said the individual he hires will have to be like another kid to him, and if the young man has a family, then his family will have to become a part of Stanley's family. Stanley said that is the sort of relationship which will be required to make the partnership successful.
Stanley also said a plan will need to be developed which will vest the new farm manager in Stanley's farm at the beginning of the hiring process. An understanding of how the salaried management position will eventually lead to an ownership position, and a gradual process which will move Stanley out of that ownership position and move the younger farmer into it.
"I do not want to invest a couple years of time and emotion into a person and after five or so years they decide to leave and change lifestyles," Stanley said. "I need a way to make sure they are vested into the farm enough that they stay loyal to it and me."
Stanley said he remains interested in finding someone with the intelligence, work ethic and personality to become his successful farm manager, but since this person has yet to come along, Stanley is planning on investing in technology which will decrease his labor. He plans to purchase equipment that will allow him to monitor irrigation filters from his home computer and cellular phone. Stanley is also planning to use no-till farming practices to cut back on his labor.
While Stanley is several years away from being ready to completely retire from farming, he is thinking forward in an effort to develop a plan that will allow him to slow down. Unfortunately, many of Stanley's questions of how to best go about easing into retirement and passing on his everyday management responsibilities are unanswered. However, he is well aware that changes must be made in the near future in order for him to remain involved and competitive in farming.
The author's contact information
Samantha Yates, Publications Specialist
Cotton Economics Research Institute
Larry Combest Endowed Chair in Agricultural Competitiveness
Texas Tech University
samantha.d.yates@ttu.edu
(806) 742-2821 - office