Passing on family farm ‘a blessing’

Dec 04, 2025

Family-owned farms account for 95 percent of U.S. farms, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture.

Brad Weger – who farms alongside his dad, uncle and grandpa – joked that the positive and negative side of working with family every day is, “You’re working with them every day.”

That can also mean it’s difficult to get away from the business side of things.

“The work never stops,” he said. “It’s hard not to bring work home with you.”

Tim Christensen is an Iowa State University-Extension and Outreach farm-management specialist. He’s been doing workshops and working one-on-one with farm families for eight years. One thing he’s seen in his interactions with those putting together farm transitions is the push and pull between generations on the farm, he said. The older generation want the younger generation to come in and make things happen. But at the same time the older generation is too afraid to give control of the operation over because they’re afraid the younger will make a mistake.

Christensen reassures older farmers that they can give the younger generation enough rope to make a mistake but still prevent them from falling. Communication is key when it comes to farm businesses, he said.

The older generation has the responsibility to talk to the generation receiving the farm business. He said he knows of a 40-year-old son who farmed with his father all his life – but who got an off-farm job because there was no communication in regard to what would happen to the farm in the future. He advises that those planning to pass their farm on to family members build a trusted team. Sometimes people keep secrets, but advisers need to have good information to be able to give good advice.

“Knowing what the business has and how it’s titled is a key to success,” Christensen said. “When there are clear and transparent financial records for the business, it’s a lot easier to build a transition plan.”

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Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.