Article on Farmland Succession

Jamie Baxter (DalhousieUniversity – Schulich School of Law, Yale University – Law School) recently published an article entitled, Legal Institutions of Farmland Succession: Implications for SustainableFood Systems, Wills, Trusts, & Estates Law eJournal, Vol. 9, No. 25(Sept. 18, 2013).  Provided below is the abstract from SSRN:

The legal institutions relevant to farmland succession — defined as thetransfer of property in and control over farmland — are increasingly importantdeterminants of sustainable environmental outcomes on modern farms. The historyof farmland succession has been written, by and large, through extra-legalprocesses of transfer and inheritance between generations of close familyrelations. This familiar “family farm” model, however, is rapidly beingreplaced by succession arrangements between non-relatives, often strangers,with entrant farmers from non-agricultural backgrounds. As a growing number ofcurrent farmers retire and seek creative ways to transfer control and ownershipof their farms, the availability and content of property arrangements onfarmlands acquire a new significance. The resulting formalization of farmlandsuccession places greater demands on policy makers to craft farmland tenureoptions and supporting institutions that are suitable to a wider diversity ofneeds, particularly among small farmers, and to consider the impacts of thesearrangements for sustainable food systems over the long term.